The Perkins Job
by Zee-Zee Magee
Summary: Somebody's past is about to finally come back to haunt them! It's up to Nate and the team to figure out where they went wrong during the first plan in order for the new plan to succeed! But will they end up losing one of their own in the process?
1. Hospital Nightmare

**A/N:**_ Um... Don't own Leverage but if I did I would be a very happy little girl and it wouldn't have made it past its first season which would have made me a very sad little girl so I guess it's a good thing I don't own it! Side note: To those two readers who read my previous story; A Very Bad Job, original I know, will have to wait a little longer for the update because idiot who is known as the author of the story accidentally deleted the important beginning of the next part and now has to work her way around it. Sorry, but you shouldn't have to wait that much longer for it. To those of you who are just breezing through, review if you don't like it so I can figure out where I went wrong because we only learn how to be better writers through criticism than we do through silence. Idk who said that but it was some dead guy, probably Winsten Churchill, but please help me get my voicing down! I beg of you! P.S. Most of you are sooooooo going to hate me when you figure out who is in that hospital bed._

Nate was standing in the middle of a hospital hallway in complete disarray. He continued to stare at a glass wall filled with doctors surrounding a body. He watched on in complete horror of who was in that room being operated upon.

"This is just like Sam," Nate sighed as he continued to watch the developing scene.

"Nate," Sophie cried out in sympathy of the man before her and in agony of the one occupying the hospital bed.

"Sophie…" Nate moaned in pain, "I can't. Not again."

"This isn't your fault, Nate," Sophie repliedsadly.

"I should have seen it coming," Nate explained himself in hopes of understanding, "I missed something important and it might cost us everything."

"Nate," Sophie spoke softly," Maybe you should go over the con. If you really missed something you'll be able to figure it out."

"I can't," Nate pleaded mercilessly as his eyes continued to be glued to the person in the bed, "I can't do this again. Oh God Sophie!"

"How did it start?" Sophie demanded desperately, "How did we get here, Nate?"

"Soph…" Nate complained in torture of what he was witnessing.

"Humor me," Sophie begged in a quiet whimper, "Please, Nate! Why did this happen?"

"Eliot," Nate retorted bitterly, "We were trying to protect Eliot."

**A/N 2: **_I bet you all are confused as to who is in the bed now, aren't ya? I shall give you a tiny hint. They were mentioned in this scene! Or were they? Review and I might tell you! Honesty is very much appreciated but swear words are not suitable for my virgin ears, just saying! Thanks for reading!_


	2. How it began

**A/N:** _Thanks to those who reviewed and be ready for something whose main aim is to be a roller coaster of Leverage fun! As for owning Leverage... Nope!_

Leverage HQ Two Weeks Ago...

"Okay, Hardison, run it," Nate announced to the team at large as he sipped at his favorite coffee cup.

"There's nothing to run, Nate," Hardison complained, "That's why it's called a vacation.

"Exactly," Sophie agreed with a happy smile, "No cons, no marks, no plans; just everyone enjoying a well-earned holiday in the sun."

"Beach party," Parked added in cheerily, "as in five thieves hanging out together at a beach where there are waves, and sandcastles."

"And we all know how much Parker likes to swim in the sand," Hardison smiled at the thief's happy statement.

"Do you think we'll see any sharks while we're there?" Parker asked excitedly at the idea of such sharp teeth.

"That's not what I meant," Nate grumbled at his team's spirit, "I was talking about the thing that goes very wrong."

"What thing that goes wrong?" Parker demanded in disappointment.

"Why do you always have to be so negative?" Hardison grouched at the mastermind's terrible mood.

"For the last time, Nate," Sophie huffed at the impossible man beside her, "Nothing's going to happen!"

"Why do you always think something bad is going to happen when we decide to go on vacation?" Parker wondered with a curious tilt of her head.

"Because something bad always happens," Nate replied back simply.

"Something bad does not happen," Hardison glared indignantly at the man's statement.

"Name one," Parker dared on impulse alone.

"Here he goes," Sophie sighed at the onslaught she knew was about to happen.

"Three years ago when you wanted to go to the park and Hardison ended up with poison ivy," Nate suggested boldly, "remember that?"

"That was one time and I have absolutely no idea how that ivy got there," Hardison shouted desperately at the memory.

"Really?" Parker demanded cunningly, "Eliot was standing right beside you when you started to feel the burn!"

"There's also that time when we went to a carnival and ended up taking Parker to the doctor because we thought she was allergic to sugar," Nate countered with amusement.

"That was a day," Sophie grimaced at the memory.

"Hardison bought it for me and Eliot just refused to believe that I actually was stealing it," Parker pointed out bravely.

"He had to know you were doing it," Hardison added bravely, "I bought you the pink kind and you were wearing green and yellow!"

"Then there was that time when Eliot ended up with a concussion because somebody wanted to go ice skating," Nate added on the guilt trip.

"I told him not to hit on that man's girlfriend," Sophie defended herself promptly, "You were the one egging him on."

"The guy was hitting on you," Hardison explained with a knowing smile.

"Nate got jealous," Parker nodded along with a smile.

"I wasn't jealous," Nate rolled his eyes at the two before continuing, "and there was that time when we had to go to the hospital for sun poisoning."

"I told you to wear a hat," Sophie chirped flirtatiously close to his ear.

"Last time Sophie ended up getting poisoned by a sea urchin," Nate hissed before the other two could go further with their new ammunition.

"I was fine the next day," Sophie grunted at the memory.

"You were in a coma," Nate gasped back incredulous at the argument.

"It was for an hour," Sophie huffed back with a sneer.

"You almost drowned," Nate came back readily.

"Oh please, you were swimming right next to me," Sophie shook her head at the defense.

"Luckily," Nate grumbled winningly, "Eliot gave me eighteen unnecessary warnings because I was giving you CPR."

"You were giving her mouth to mouth," Hardison shrugged at the mastermind's disbelief of the hitter's actions, "How can you not see why he was giving you the warnings?"

"It's not our faults we thought you guys just wanted to make-out," Parker hissed playfully with a knowing glint popping in between her and the hacker beside her.

"I still don't see why Eliot needed to supervise every time you were in the hospital room with me," Sophie huffed at the memory, "It's not like we would ever do anything even remotely close to romantic anyway."

"Exactly," Nate nodded before the rest of the grifter's statement finally formed a coherent thought within his head, "Wait, what do you mean by romantic?"

"Shouldn't Eliot be here by now," Sophie switched the subject immediately to keep the mastermind floundering on her latest statement.

"Yeah," Hardison agreed as he started to glide right on over to his computer, "He's usually early when we are about to go on anything that even sounds like vacation."

"Remember the Boca job where he was three hours early just so he could inspect the bakinis?" Parker asked with a silent giggle.

"Dude had absolutely no idea Sophie was in that blue swimsuit 'til Nate started getting all growly," Hardison smiled at the thief's fabulous memory.

"Is that why he had to sit in coach for the return flight?" Sophie laughed at the news, "I just thought it was because he teased Nate about his tan lines."

"Where's Eliot, Hardison?" Nate sighed as he decided to ignore the grifter's teasing for his own safety.

"I'm right here," Eliot grunted as he entered through the door very quickly, "and we have a problem!"

"That doesn't sound good," Parker commented to Hardison expectantly.

"I told you something bad always happens," Nate pointed out boldly, "What's the problem?"

"And how do we fix it?" Sophie added urgently as their apparent vacation was no longer going to be a reality.

"Somebody ordered a hit on me," Eliot explained sadly.

"Seriously?" Parker asked with actual disappointment on her face, "I thought it was something important."

"It is important, Parker," Eliot hissed at the insane thief in front of him, "For one thing, how the hell did you not know about it, Hardison? What with your little doohickeys and your stupid tech stuff; how could you not know that somebody had a hit on me?"

"Well for one thing," Hardison growled at the hitter in anger and hurt, "There is absolutely no hits ordered on you electronically because my phone, computer, and all other electronic devices I have created to specifically save your ass haven't bleeped with a warning! Whoever ordered the hit must have a damn good hacker to beat my defenses, man!"

"Aw man, we have to go up against Chaos again," Parker sighed at the news, "First Sophie, then Hardison's van, and now Eliot? When is he going to learn that we will always win against him?"

"It's not Chaos," Hardison quipped at the thief's wounding remarks, "I can beat Chaos anytime I want. I have beaten Chaos twice before you know!"

"Yeah," Parker agreed helpfully, "because he thought Sophie was actually dead the first time and he wanted you to stop him the second!"

"Who's side are you on?" Hardison demanded of the thief in exasperation.

"Could we please focus on the bigger issue here?" Nate ordered the two young thieves with a violent glare.

"Jeeze," Eliot glared at the two as if they were insane, "You two are starting to act like Nate and Sophie!"

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Sophie demanded with an arched brow of defiance towards the hitter.

"That you and Nate argue a lot," Eliot stated back with only a tiny hint of fear in his voice.

"It was a paper order," Nate concluded aloud.

"What?" Parker asked clearly not following the conversation.

"It was a hit by paper," Nate clarified for his now captivated audience, "Instead of ordering the hit online where the wrong people could find it the person in charge decided to send by word of mouth and on paper only! It's a way of ensuring that the job gets done without all of that hefty trouble of hiring a hacker who could very easily double-cross them."

"You mean people still do that," Hardison gasped in horror of the idea.

"It makes sense," Sophie nodded along at the mastermind's assessment, "This guarantees that the buyer gets what he wants and it also allows the collector to name his or her own price."

"Do you think it's a girl assassin coming after Eliot?" Parker questioned happily, "Because then we could just have Eliot charm her into not killing him and we can go on our super awesome vacation to the beach!"

"You go to the beach every day," Eliot grumbled at the thief's enthusiasm, "What makes this trip so special compared to that?"

"Hardison said I could bury him in the sand," Parker suggested with that mischievous glint back in her eyes.

"Man, you are so whipped," Eliot chuckled at the hacker's gurgling babbles of response to the thief's happy statement.

"Do you know who ordered the hit?" Nate asked of the hitter before any more embarrassing information could be shared with the class.

"Some guy called Perkins," Eliot snarled at the insult, "I don't even know the guy and I have no clue what I did to piss him off that bad."

"Really?" Nate rolled his eyes at the hitter's words, "You have absolutely no idea what you could have possibly done to tick this guy off enough to order a hit on you?"

"You probably slept with his girl," Hardison suggested immediately.

"Or hit him," Parker stated in thought.

"Or stole, killed, well…" Sophie looked sympathetically towards the hitter before continuing, "There's a very large number of things you could have done to him, Eliot!"

"Or you're the target because of us," Nate thought aloud.

"How does that work?" Eliot demanded at the mastermind's insanity.

"An enemy we made in the past few years could probably believe that taking you out will force us all to fall," Sophie admitted bashfully.

"But Eliot's Eliot," Parker replied in confusion, "Wouldn't they already know that he's indestructible and can't be killed?"

"For the last time Parker," Eliot growled at the thief in irritation, "I am not an alien from planet Kryptonite or wherever the hell it is!"

"It's Krypton and you seriously act like it sometimes," Hardison defended the thief promptly.

"Seriously, I swear their working on some type of super creepy contest!" Eliot spat at Sophie indignantly, "There's something wrong with them!"

"Calm down," Nate ordered at the childish behavior, "We need to do something about this hit before something bad happens."

"Like what?" Parker demanded of the room in total.

"There's a hit on him, mama," Hardison sighed at the fact that he was explaining this at all, "As in, people are trying to kill him."

"Yeah but we've already established that Eliot can't be killed," Parker stated in confusion.

"I'm telling you," Eliot huffed at the grifter indignantly, "There's something not right with her head!"

"Parker," Sophie started slowly, "Why do you think Eliot can't be killed?"

"Well it's not just Eliot," Parker giggled at the grifter's approach, "You can't either, duh!"

"Why can't Sophie?" Eliot thundered at the thief in incomprehension.

"Because every time Sophie gets put into a coffin she ends up attending her funeral immediately afterwards," Parker explained herself as if they were the ones not getting this scenario, "and Eliot doesn't get shot because the bullets just bounce right off of him!"

"Where is she getting this from?" Eliot begged of the hacker to make sense of this insane fact.

"I'm guessing from Sophie's frequent enjoyment of attending her own funerals after somebody tries to kill her and your frequent inability to get shot," Hardison shrugged in response, "And so ya'll know, I'm with her on this one!"

"How can you be with…?" Sophie and Eliot began to grumble together in unison before Nate decided to interrupt their tirades.

"Vacations canceled," Nate ordered for everyone to hear, "We have a new job!"

"A new job?" Parker asked excitedly, "Do I get to jump off of something?"

"Is there a plan where Hardison gets shot?" Eliot begged happily.

"Why do I always have to get shot in the plan?" Hardison demanded irritably.

"We're going after Perkins, aren't we?" Sophie sighed in response to yet another failed attempt at a perfect vacation.

"Yep," Nate smiled serenely at his newest thoughts, "Let's go steal a hitman!"

**A/N 2:** _So what happens next? Where does this go wrong? Why does this go wrong? Who the Hell is in that hospital bed? Hint: The person was mentioned in this chapter! Review if only to humor me, please!_


	3. The Plan's humble beginnings

**A/N: **_Sorry for the wait. Work and sick don't work in favor with my creative outlett. Enjoy!_

Perkins Estates: Doomed Con, Day One…

"Okay," Hardison sighed as he nervously breezed his way through the big house of scary people, "Please tell me why I am doing this again?"

"Oh quit being such a baby," Parker huffed from her position in the second floor air duct system, "This isn't your first time going to a party! Besides, you're playing Eliot for the first time so I really don't see how it's possible you're playing Eliot again! That's just illogical!"

"He's not playing me, Parker!" Eliot growled at the thief from his position in Lucille… whatever number this one was, "And this van wreaks, Hardison!"

"Smells like hard work," Hardison grumbled under his breath, "You try spending every waking moment of a con locked up in a van and see what kind of smells you come up with!"

"There is this new invention called an air freshener for your vehicle," Sophie countered in a bored tone from her position somewhere within the party, "You should probably think about investing in one of those! I know how you absolutely adore new technology and all!"

"She's got a point you know," Eliot directed with an audible smirk.

"Ha!" Parker hissed with laughter at the grifter's remark.

"Ya'll are just jealous," Hardison mumbled under his breath as he continued to make his way throughout the crowded party.

"Of what?" Eliot demanded hotly, "What could I possibly be jealous of you for?"

"He's got really nice toys," Parker defended the hacker promptly, "Nate, I'm almost to the third floor air duct entrance. Do you want me to go up?"

"No, Parker, take a right and head for the first room with a desk that you can find," Nate ordered from his position scouting the rest of the crowd.

"What is she doing up there anyway?" Sophie asked pointedly, "We don't even know what we're looking for."

"Just getting Parker out of the way for this one," Nate replied back from right beside her.

"Why do I need a distraction?" Parker questioned as she continued to peruse the ventilation shaft, "Drats, billiards room."

"No reason," Nate coughed into the com as Hardison made it to his destination.

"Excuse me," Hardison commented with a weird accent that sounded kind of French Canadian, "I have a message from my employer… a Mr. Eliot Spencer."

"Don't move!" the guy closest to Perkins yelled as he raised his gun threateningly towards the hacker aiming strictly for his throat.

"No movement from me, sir," Hardison gulped as he acknowledged the gun pointing at him with wide eyes.

"You sent Hardison in there to get shot!" Parker screamed at the mastermind angrily, "I'm on my way, Hardison!"

"Help him and you blow the con," Nate interrupted the thief's plan immediately.

"Don't care," Parker huffed, "I want him alive!"

"Hardison's not going to die, Parker," Sophie cooed sympathetically, "I'll make sure your pretzels are safe for the return voyage home!"

"Promise?" Parker questioned fiercely.

"Promise," Sophie agreed with a smile.

"Okay then," Parker nodded her head and proceeded to fold herself into the room with a desk she had found, "Don't worry, Hardison, you won't get shot! Sophie says so!"

"Pretzels?" Nate demanded of the grifter with a knowing glint.

"Code word for their… whatever it is," Sophie explained with a smile.

"I see," Nate nodded with amusement.

"You're a vodka on the rocks with a dash of lemon if you were wondering," Sophie coyly whispered as she made her way on down towards the hacker and the mark.

"That's perfect!" Parker was heard exclaiming while the hitter's snickering accompanied her enthusiastic reply.

"What does Eliot Spencer want with me?" Perkins demanded wildly of the hacker that was standing at his bodyguard's gunpoint.

"He is the one you are after is he not?" Hardison gulped out as he kept his eyes trained on the gun without missing a beat.

"You said you work for him," Perkins nodded along.

"It was only to get your attention," Hardison admonished with a cheesy grin as he visibly relaxed at the misunderstanding, "I meant my employer wishes to collect on your reward for Eliot Spencer's head. I do not work for Mr. Spencer but for a Mrs. Spencer… his wife!"

"Ah," Perkins smiled at the hacker's statement, "You can put the gun away, Bobby. I believe this man is only delivering a message from a wife to save her spouse's life."

"On the contrary," Sophie explained casually as she stepped her way onto the playing field, "I want to collect."

**A/N 2: **_Weren't expecting that one, were you? This one's shorter because I have plans to make it as close to the show as possible. Think of it as a commercial break!_


	4. The First Problem

**A/N: **_This is a very long chapter to make up for the extremely long wait and get all of the twists and turns in correctly. Please, don't hate Eliot and Sophie! Oh, and there is a slight hint of who could quite possibly be in that damn hospital bed from the beginning. Parker and Hardison will be huge parts in the next chapter, I promise!_

Perkins Estates: Doomed Con, Day One… Perkin's Office

Sophie sat at a newly polished mahogany table with a nice lemon tonic clutched gently in her hands. Her brown eyes flickered throughout the room to take a quick mental count of the amount of men who had accompanied her into the horridly disarming room.

"Let me get this straight," Perkins huffed at the grifter in annoyance that he couldn't quite understand what she was telling him, "You want to kill your husband?"

"Precisely," Sophie smiled kindly as she internally cringed at the fact that she was playing such an evil role.

"Why?" Perkins demanded in confusion.

"Money," Sophie replied back with a little laugh of absurdity escaping her lips too, "Why else would I want to kill my husband?"

"Well he's obviously not cheating on you," Perkins pointed out brashly as his eyes wandered over the grifter's sitting form in admiration.

"Oh don't be silly," Sophie giggled in flirtation as a growl that sounded absolutely nothing like the hitter's escaped from someone who sounded a lot like the mastermind, "I didn't marry my husband out of love and I most certainly will not disobey my vows even so."

"You're going to kill him," Perkins chuckled at the grifter's banter.

"There is absolutely nothing in my vows about killing him for his illegally obtained money," Sophie stated dramatically, "They just state that I would make certain he got everything he deserved most from the world around him. He is a very dangerous man, as you well know! I just feel it is my duty to finally live up to my end of the bargain."

"Who is he?" Perkins smiled at the grifter's coquettish flair.

"Who?" Sophie questioned back in confusion of the man's question, or at least what he thought was confusion as she internally smiled at his leap into her metaphorical net.

"The man you want to marry and share all this money with," Perkins continued unashamed of his bold statement, "Who is he?"

"A very good man," Sophie admitted softly, "Which is why I have to get rid of my husband. If he finds out that I have been having an affair with his brother…"

"His brother?" Perkins questioned in a slight snarl, "Eliot Spencer doesn't have a brother. My men have been researching Spencer for years and there isn't a single mention of a brother."

"Well there wouldn't be, would there?" Sophie calmly rolled her eyes at the rude behavior of the man before her, "He's only his half-brother and it was well before his mother met his father. They hardly even speak to each other let alone acknowledge their own blood link."

"His brother," Perkins nodded in understanding of the news, "You're sleeping with his brother? I find that quite interesting."

"I'll bet you do," Nate snarled in anger, and jealousy, of the mark's chosen words.

"It's not like you're going to be getting any," Hardison hissed at the mark in disgruntlement, "So quit asking!"

"Yuck," Parker stated simply, "He thinks Sophie actually likes him."

"Tell me again why I can't just kill him," Eliot demanded of the mastermind dramatically.

"I don't sleep around, Mr. Perkins," Sophie admonished briskly as she did her best to ignore the constant chatter of the others within her ear, "I just fell in love a little too late is all."

"Don't we all," Perkins agreed with a very greedy smile starting to cover his face.

"If he puts a hand on her thigh I cannot be held accountable for my actions," the hitter grumbled into the comms as he watched the exchange via the mastermind's button cam the grifter was conveniently wearing.

"You'll have to beat Nate to him first," Hardison explained with an audible smile dashing across his face.

"That's why she's wearing the button cam," Parker stated excitedly.

"We'll save that for Plan B," Nate listed off as he ignored the rest of the comments out of safety for his own sanity, what was left of it anyway.

"Which part?" Parker questioned in confusion.

"The part where Eliot kills the guy for checking out Sophie," Hardison finished for the thief immediately, "or the part where you kill the mark for checking out Sophie?"

"Hardison," Nate warned slowly, "don't you and Parker have a job that involves the two of you locating Perkin's safe?"

"I believe that was a yes, Hardison," Parker whispered into the hacker's ear as she kindly plopped down beside him from the ceiling above.

"But to which part," Hardison smiled back at the thief with a knowing smile shared between them as they started getting to work.

"So you want to collect on the insurance policy your husband set up as well as his fortune and the bounty on his head?" Perkins asked simply for clarity.

"That would be quite wonderful," Sophie agreed with a slight smile and a curt nod.

"Fine," Perkins nodded at the statement as any businessman would, "but what's in it for me?"

"Half," Sophie suggested as a courtesy, "I will give you half of all his little properties he illegally obtained and/or won over."

"Not good enough," Perkins denied expectedly, "What else you got?"

"You can have the estates because I don't want them," Sophie listed off again with a sigh, "and you can have his body to do whatever it is that tickles your little fancy."

"I just want his body and his blood," Perkins admitted suddenly, "You can keep the rest as long as I get the rights to what's left of his mangled flesh and bones."

"Peachy," Sophie cheered at the scandalous news, "I'll send it over as soon as he bites the dust. Until then, Mr. Perkins."

"Not so fast," Perkins howled as the grifter started to rise from her chair, "Sit down."

The grifter obeyed immediately at sat down as if nothing had gone wrong while the others were kind enough to verbalize what she was thinking.

"Eliot," Nate ordered desperately, "Get ready to bust her out of there as quickly as possible."

"I can Taser them," Parker suggested as she started climbing to the ceiling.

"No," Nate denied automatically, "You need to find that safe while he's distracted. Let Eliot handle this one."

"Shouldn't I be handling this because I am supposed to be playing the middleman here," Hardison grumbled as he was already on his way back to the grifter and the party they had left behind, "Nate?"

"No," the mastermind pleaded softly, "We're not going to do anything until Sophie says to."

"Did he just tell me to wait until Sophie decides she isn't safe?" Eliot grumbled to the other two in shock from behind the van he had just slightly vacated.

"I believe so," Hardison nodded along with a slack jaw.

"Does this mean Sophie's in charge of the cons again?" Parker asked happily, "Because I like it when Sophie leads the cons. You learn so much about conning and grifting. It's like thief school for grown-ups."

"Except the teacher is the only con artist to ever outsmart Nathan Ford," Eliot agreed back solemnly.

"She did not outsmart me," Nate argued immediately, "She just outran me!"

"Aww," Parker smiled at the mastermind's words, "Now he's jealous of Sophie!"

"Why me?" Perkins demanded hotly of the grifter before him, "You could have asked any person in the world to help you with this. Why did you ask me?"

"Because you and I hate him for the same reason, Mr. Perkins," Sophie explained sympathetically to the man's tiny plea, "He used me for my connections the same he used you for yours. Don't you think that's reason enough?"

"I want the honor of watching him die," Perkins stated coldly, "and I want you to make him suffer for taking her away."

"Your wife will be avenged, Mr. Perkins," Sophie nodded to the agreement willingly, "I can promise you that."

"How did you know he had a wife?" Parker demanded of the grifter in confusion.

"I didn't even know he had a wife and I'm the one who has to do all of this research," Hardison grumbled as he tried to focus on helping the thief find their target merchandise.

"Have you found that file yet?" Eliot grunted into the comms with a hiss.

"Still looking," Hardison piped back as the unmistakable sounds of Parker digging through the file cabinets made themselves well-known to everybody wearing an earbud.

"I got it!" the thief's victorious cry was heard triumphantly after a quick breath of air, "I can't believe he actually has a paper trail. This is almost too easy!"

"This mark doesn't seem smart enough to come after Eliot on his own," Hardison commented in confusion, "It's like he wants Eliot to win so they can meet in person."

"It's like he's just following orders," Parker agreed as she and the hacker worked on making their getaway.

"Sophie," Nate ordered with a thunderous tone to his voice, "Meet Hardison at the rental car. Parker, hide out in the back until Sophie signals you. Eliot, I'll meet you in the van."

"You've got it," Eliot chimed in automatically as he started to pull out and do as told.

"Almost to the door, now," Hardison commented as he watched the tiny thief duck down into oblivion.

"I'm in," Sophie told the mastermind with a smile, "Let's get out of here and find out what he's after."

"This is kind of boring," Parker stated simply when Sophie gave her the signal to sit up, "Perkins doesn't seem like the guy who would hire people to do his dirty work."

"He seems like the kind to do the dirty work," Hardison agreed immediately as they all met up at their convenient drop-off spot, "So why is he taking a backseat?"

"Maybe he's sick of having to do everything himself," Sophie suggested with an odd note to her voice they hadn't heard since… the Davids Jobs.

"Sophie's using her con voice," Parker pointed out with wide eyes, "Why is Sophie using her con voice?"

"Son of a bitch!" Eliot growled out just as the mastermind caught up to the others in the middle of the parking lot.

"You," Nate gasped out in shock and realization, "It was you! You ordered the hit on Eliot!"

"What?" Hardison and Parker shouted in complete shock as they turned to stare at the grifter in perfect, wide-eyed unison.

"You did this," Nate accused angrily, "You ordered the hit on Eliot!"

"Yes," Sophie admitted softly with an expression closely resembling shock completely covering her face at the mastermind's words, "I ordered the hit."

"Why?" Nate demanded frantically, "Why would you do that?"

"Because I asked her to," Eliot admitted from right behind the mastermind drawing the attention of everyone.

"What?" Parker and Hardison screeched again in barely audible, high-pitched squeals.

"It was the only way, Nate," Sophie tried to explain hastily.

"You were conning us," Nate stated immediately, "The both of you were conning us into going after… what is he, a mutual enemy?"

"He was…" Sophie began to explain quickly.

"I had Sophie put the idea in his head because he was close to coming after our team," Eliot growled in response before the mastermind could interrupt the distraught grifter.

"You expect us to believe that?" Hardison grumbled at the hitter electrically.

"Look in the file if you don't believe me!" Eliot ordered with a huff.

"Why should we believe you?" Nate demanded of the hitter with eyes blazing, "You've been conning us this entire time!"

"It was only to protect you!" Sophie pleaded with the mastermind in desperation.

"Just like conning Blackpoole," Nate pointed out coldly.

"don't blame this on her, Nate," Eliot hollered at the mastermind defensively, "I'm the one who ordered her to do this!"

"What did you offer her in return?" Nate demanded with an unusual tinge of jealousy scratching at the surface of his usually unreadable façade.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sophie hissed at the mastermind in confusion because she could read the book while the hitter could only see the obvious cliff-notes.

"How long have you been lying to us?" Nate questioned the grifter frantically, "How long have you been trying to get us to take this guy out?"

"Screw that," Hardison commented with a snarl, "Why didn't you come to me, man? You know I can get us off any trail with nothing more than a quick tap of my fingers!"

"Yeah," Nate encouraged the hacker with a very odd huff towards the hitter, "Why did you go to Sophie first?"

"Because she's the only one who wouldn't do this!" Eliot pointed out sporadically, "and I knew her house wouldn't be bugged because we're never there! It was a strategic maneuvre!"

"We've all been bugged," Hardison retorted back angrily, "You know that! I've been working my butt off trying to save all ya'll's asses here!"

"Wait," Nate pointed out stubbornly, "You went to her house, alone?"

"Of course he went alone, Nate," Sophie stared at the mastermind in complete confusion, "How else would he keep you in the dark about this?"

"So the two of you were alone together in your house?" Nate spat out as his face grew a very weird shade of purplish red.

"Oh man, you guys are in trouble!" Hardison commented with wide eyes as he figured out exactly where the mastermind's head was going.

"Hey!" Parker barked out as she opened the file as previously instructed, "We're all in here… except Sophie and Hardison but that's to be expected because they aren't supposed to be seen!"

"Seriously?" Hardison sputtered as he grabbed the folder from the thief in shock yet again that day, "Seriously?"

"See," Eliot pointed to the file in irritation, "We were doing it to protect you guys!"

"So you go to Sophie instead of me?" Nate asked in anger of his grifter and hitter's activities.

"It was the only way," Sophie repeated in hopes of getting through the mastermind's thick wall of self-preservation.

"Sophie was the only one who could solve this and you know it!" Eliot howled at the mastermind defensively, "You have no right being hurt about the fact that she was the one I went to first when you've done the same thing on several occasions."

"I could have come up with a better plan that wouldn't put your life in danger!" Nate shouted at the hitter with that weird look of jealousy on his face again.

"That's not what this is about and you know it!" Eliot shouted back as he picked up exactly on what was fueling the mastermind's anger now.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nate questioned as his face slowly grew really red with anger now at the new predicament.

"Boys," Sophie warned immediately as she saw the fight coming.

"You're mad I went to her at all!" Eliot stated back threateningly.

"Eliot!" Sophie retorted in shock of the expression.

"Umm," Hardison whispered to Parker in shock, "Are we having a whole new conversation here?"

"Hell yes!" Nate agreed with violent eyes, "You bet I am! You went to her house!"

"Nate!" Sophie gasped out in shock of the admission.

"Yep," Parker nodded along at the back and forth that was going on, "This is a very weird new conversation. It makes me very uncomfortable."

"It's not because I chose to ask her for help over you now is it?" Eliot continued warningly, "You're mad for a completely different reason!"

"And what would that be?" Nate dared with an odd twinkle sparkling in his eyes.

"You're jealous!" Eliot accused accordingly, "You're jealous that I went to her, that I talked to her, that I was in her house alone with her while you were out getting…"

"Shut up!" Nate ordered with his fist dangerously close to the hitter's face in a sudden instant.

"Boys, please!" Sophie begged in fear of what she was about to happen.

"Oh," Hardison gurgled out in complete shock of what was going on right before his eyes.

"I think Nate's going to kill Eliot," Parker gasped out with wide eyes.

"Uh-huh," Hardison nodded in agreement at this weird development.

"That's not why I went to her," Eliot reported calmly after noting just how close the mastermind's fist was able to get before he caught it.

"Then why did you?" Nate asked as his breathing started to some-what calm down.

"Because you want to fix this," Eliot explained pointedly, "and you want to do it in a way that would end up getting all of us killed."

"With the exception of Eliot and I, of course," Sophie added in for humor in hopes of lightening the mood, "at least according to Parker."

"It's true," Parker grunted out because she couldn't think of any other way to help the grifter snap the two men out of their weird war.

"Do you have any idea what could have happened if your little plan hadn't worked?" Nate heaved out in a shaky breath that held too much emotion for one breath.

"I wasn't going to let that happen," Eliot explained rashly, "That's why I went to her first. Sophie's the best for a reason, Nate."

"I know," Nate nodded at the tiny explanation as his muscles began to visibly relax, "You have no idea how good Sophie is."

"I would have never let her get hurt," Eliot explained himself bashfully, "I would have never gone to her if I didn't know she would be able to pull this off! You have to believe me."

"What if something went wrong?" Nate questioned in shock and anger only, "What if she was in a situation where you couldn't save her? How would you have explained that to us?"

"Sophie wasn't in any danger," Eliot promised sincerely, "I was making certain of it."

"You could have gotten her killed!" Nate howled at the hitter, "Sophie could have gotten seriously injured! What if Sophie had been figure out just now? What if Sophie hadn't agreed to it? You have no idea how Perkins could have reacted. Sophie was in more danger than you let any of us know!"

"Sophie's a big girl…" Eliot started to defend pointedly.

"Sophie's not indestructible…" Nate interrupted sort of.

"Sophie's standing right here in front of you!" the grifter pointed out in a kind huff at being discussed as if she weren't there at all.

"What's the plan now?" Parker whispered to Hardison in confusion.

"I have no idea," Hardison admitted softly, "but Sophie and Eliot are in trouble!"

"We're going to continue with the original plan," Nate explained in his business tone, "and we're going to make certain that you and Parker are as far out of harm's way as possible, Hardison."

"Why would we be the ones in harm's way?" Parker demanded briskly as she pointed to the hitter and grifter accusingly, "Were you not paying attention to their whole... thing?"

"Yeah," Hardison chirped earnestly, "We're not the ones playing all fifty sides of the coin here!"

"Coins only have two sides," Parker explained in a growl, "We've discussed this already."

"It's an exaggeration, Parker," Hardison rolled his eyes at the thief in exasperation, "Because Eliot and Sophie are stupid and couldn't even tell us, their team and family, what the hell they were doing! I can't believe she succeeded in conning us again!"

"Technically they both did," Parker pointed out cheerily, "The whole Moreau thing, remember?"

"We can hear you, Parker," Eliot and Sophie growled in perfect unison with matching glares directed at the two youngest members of the team.

"Oh yeah," Parker grimaced at the news, "They get really cranky when we talk about them behind their backs, Hardison. Why is that?"

"Oh good grief," Hardison sighed at the thief's thinking process.

"I suggest we get back to the con now," Nate encouraged angrily, "Sophie, you keep up the charade of being…. Eliot's… wife! Parker, you and Hardison are going to find a way to erase us from Perkins' to-do list as quickly as possible. Eliot…"

"I'm going to hit some guys and then play dead," Eliot nodded at the order immediately, "Done deal, Nate."

"Are we okay now?" Sophie demanded of the mastermind worriedly.

"We're okay," Nate smiled reassuringly at the grifter's worry, "Just don't do it again."

"I don't make promises I can't keep, Nate," Sophie smiled at the return to banter normalcy, "You should know that by now."

"She's got a point," Eliot laughed at the grifter's statement as he started to head off back to his conning post for the evening.

"I'm going to go make a phone for our mark to trace now," Sophie purred as she scampered off to finish hooking her next victim.

"Never!" Nate ordered in a very impressive growl as he stopped the hitter in his tracks with nothing more than a hand on his shoulder, "Never, put Sophie's life in danger like that again! Do you understand me? Never!"

"I hear ya," Eliot acknowledged the threat with the common decency of actually looking slightly shaken by the mad look in the mastermind's eyes, "but you should know by now that I would never allow her to do anything that would end with her death!"

"You don't know her like I do," Nate explained warningly, "She's far more protective of us than you could ever believe. She's the most unpredictable variable on the field for every con! Learn that before you put her life in danger again!"

"Understood," Eliot nodded at the hidden threats, "One question though: are you just saying that because you are concerned for Sophie's safety or are you saying that because it's Sophie?"

"Eliot," Sophie ordered crisply via comms, "Don't you have somewhere you need to be?"

"Yes, Eliot," Nate fueled the order immediately, "Don't you?"

"I guess that answers my question then, doesn't it?" Eliot rhetorically demanded as he walked off to do his job.

"Yep," Nate answered honestly before quickly changing the subject, "Let's get to work!"

**A/N 2: **_Review and I will give you hint as to who is taking a lovely visit to the hospital! Go on! You know you're dying to find out!_


	5. Waiting

**A/N: **_Here's your hint!_

The Hospital Waiting Room… Present Day

Nate stared at the wall completely numb. It had been hours since he was sent away from the observation room. He hated waiting. It was the worst thing in the world to experience, waiting. It was even more irritating considering who was in that damn bed…! _Breathe, _Nate thought to himself calmly as he tried to keep his head from going there. He needed to focus on the con. He needed to figure out what went wrong. He needed to not think about what was going on in that hospital bed. He needed to focus on figuring out what went wrong so they could fix it later. The mastermind looked up from his wall-watching to see if she was still there. Yep, Sophie was still standing beside the seat across from him with her observing gaze solely on him. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut in hopes of squashing out the horrible memories that were flooding his mind. His first thought was of watching Sam's little body being pumped full of electricity even though it was completely worthless considering he was already gone. Sam's funeral came next as it always did followed quickly by Maggie no longer staying behind. Then there was the gun going off in the middle of the party. He screamed he knew he did and then… _NO_, Nate swore at where his mind was forcing him to go, _I need to focus on the con. I need to figure out what went wrong. _He could feel the little pin-prickles of tears trying to escape his eyes. The others couldn't see him like this. He needed to be strong for them. They need him to be strong. He needed to escape somehow in a way that would make sense without looking like he was abandoning them. He needed some air.

Nate ran out into the cool night air as he fought off those damn tears again. Men don't cry! That had been the one positive thing his father had taught him all those years ago. There were only a few times you were allowed to shed a tear if you were a man. The first is when you lose your son. The second is when you lose a spouse or lover. The third was when you were about to lose a member of you family. In all of those instances it was only proper for a man to truly cry when there was nobody else around to witness your moment of weakness. The mastermind gulped down the tears as he tried to control his emotions for the rest of his team… well, the part that was waiting with him anyway. Then he recognized a familiar presence standing behind him.

"Go away," Nate begged with a heavy sigh at the concerned grifter.

"Did you really think running all the way out here was going to get rid of me?" Sophie demanded back harshly though there was a slight hint of amusement in her eyes despite everything, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Dammit Sophie," Nate ground out at the way the grifter stood so perfect before him, "What do you want from me?"

"Go over the con, Nate," Sophie quipped back sympathetically, "That will answer all of you questions. You know that!"

"Go away!" Nate ordered sternly as he turned away from the grifter in hopes of waking up from this nightmare that refused to end.

"It's not your fault," Sophie explained guiltily as she stepped closer to him, "You know that too!"

"Then whose fault is it?" Nate fired back as his mind went back to that dark place again, _we were supposed to be protecting Eliot._

"That's why you need to go over the con," Sophie pointed out slowly, "so you can figure it out. I can't tell you."

"I can't…" Nate groaned out as his mind continued to flash to the last moments of the con before it had blown to bits, "I can't… Soph, you're…"

"Nate," Eliot's voice hollered out with concern as his footsteps slowly made their way towards the confused mastermind, "Are you alright?"

"No I'm not alright!" Nate shot back at the hitter with a snarl, "Does it look like I'm alright?"

"I'm sorry," Eliot grimaced at the mastermind's worry immediately, "I shouldn't have asked that. Do you need to talk?"

"I need to think," Nate huffed out in irritation of the hitter's statement, "Leave me alone."

"Don't you think you shouldn't be left alone right now?" Eliot hissed with a very obvious snarl forming on his lips.

"Shouldn't you be focusing on why we're here?" Nate asked back aiming for the kill.

"It's not your fault this happened, Nate," Eliot sighed in response.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," Sophie agreed with that odd hint of glee she only ever wore when she was correct.

"Shut up!" Nate blurted out against his better judgment.

"I'm sorry, Nate," Eliot cried out as the grifter pursed her lips tightly to show she wasn't going to say another word, "This is my fault not yours."

"I'm the one whose plan went to hell," Nate snapped at the hitter with disdain.

"It's my job to protect the team," Eliot hollered back because he was not going to take this even under the circumstances, "I didn't see the next move until it was too late!"

"Oh Eliot," Sophie sighed with concern and sadness for the hitter near her.

"It's not your fault!" Nate stated to the hitter as he tried to reign in those emotions again.

"What part of my job don't you understand?" Eliot gurgled at the mastermind because he was having the same problem keeping his emotions in check right now.

"The part where you have to be fighting the war on all seven fronts," Sophie hissed reproachfully at the hitter's need to be the bad guy.

"Shut up!" Nate ordered again in hopes of trying to get enough quite to actually think this through, "I need to think!"

"You need a drink," Eliot summarized with a huff, "Do you realize that we need you to be in there with us right now?"

"It's not your fault, Nate," Sophie screamed at the mastermind with a roll of her eyes, "How many times to I have to tell you…?"

"Shut the hell up, Sophie!" Nate snarled at the grifter before he realized exactly what he was doing and who he was doing it to.

"Nate…?" Eliot stared at the mastermind in complete confusion, worry, and shock of what he just heard from the dwindling man's lips.

**A/N 2:** _Sorry, this is so short but I just felt that hardison an Parker's part would have made this less of what it is. They will definitely be in the next chapter with only a small scene between Nate and Sophie shortly following. I wonder who is in that bed now... ;)_


	6. This Plan Looks Promising

**A/N:** _Sorry this took forever but I already know the ending! It's just the middle part that has been taking me forever. You won't have to wait much longer. As soon as I get the next chapter finished the others will be popping up daily or right after depending on my mood at the time._

Perkins' Office Building: Executive Floor… Day Two of Doomed Con

Parker and Hardison were walking through the hallway as inconspicuously as possible. Hardison was wearing a pair of black pants with a white muscle shirt and a black leather jacket. Parker was wearing a black dress with ruffles at the fringe with white leather boots and a white shawl wrapped around her shoulders. They were making their way to the mark's office in record time for once. It was a good sign. They approached the door slowly and grinned at the mechanics in play to keep it secure.

"Alright," Parker cheered as she stared at the three forms of locks in pity, "A keypad with an eight digit password, a deadbolt lock that is considered unbreakable and a fingerprint scanner that tests the person's DNA!"

"Cake, mama," Hardison agreed with a grin as he held up a baggy with a blood sample in it.

FLASH

Perkins and Hardison shook hands as a formal meeting. The hacker delicately pushed a pushpin into the mark's finger and withdrew blood by placing it on a side of tape that would copy the fingerprint too. Before the mark could say anything, Hardison immediately started his spiel to hook the guy as Sophie came up to help distract from the pain Perkins was probably feeling from the pinprick.

FLASH

Hardison handed the blood sample to the thief with a smile as he unpacked his gummy frogs to reenact the feel of a thumb pressing down.

"Now," Nate's voice whispered over the comms, "Remember to do the deadbolt last and the keypad first. The fingerprint is second in the order of unlocking!"

"We were watching the video, Nate," Hardison huffed at the mastermind with a roll of his eyes, "It's not like we haven't done this a million times before."

"I've done this a trillion bazillion!" Parker stated as she got out a list of the many possible combinations for the password, "Just for the record."

"Password is Eliot's birthday," Nate reminded with a chuckle, "And stop rolling your eyes at me, Hardison!"

"How does he do that?" Hardison demanded as he was caught mid eye-roll.

"It's Nate," Parker shrugged at the news, "Why would the mark use his target's birthday for his office again?"

"It's a training technique," Sophie answered immediately from her spot beside the mastermind, "It helps him to remember his goal, his newest conquest, basically! If his password is Eliot's birthday than that reminds him of his goal to make certain that date doesn't come around again!"

"Exactly," Nate agreed with a smile, "It's the same technique I used whenever I needed to find a painting. Every new chase was a new password to my computer."

"Right," Sophie smiled at the gesture, "So when he was chasing me all the way to Borneo his password was…"

"Paris shootout," Nate responded immediately, "because of the last time I chased her and where we ended up meeting!"

"I get Paris," Parker stated in confusion, "but why shootout?"

"Long story," Nate commented sharply.

"I still haven't forgiven you for that, by the way," Sophie whispered to the mastermind with a sharp touch of annoyance.

"So the reason why you're current password is Sophie's burial when Chaos almost killed her is…?" Hardison asked with an evil smirk on his face.

"To avoid it ever happening again," Nate stated with a nod, "And thank you for reminding me to change my password, Hardison!"

"So why is your safe's code Sophie's actual birthday?" Parker demanded after that, "Because that one is way too obvious! I figured it out before I found out when her birthday was? Why do you even know her actual birthday?"

"Parker," Sophie sighed at the thief's change in subject, "Now is not the time to be discussing this! We can talk about that later!"

"And I expect everything you saw in that safe to be confidential, Parker," Nate snapped at the thief warningly.

"Fine but I honestly don't get what's so special about Hardison's first tie," Parker huffed in annoyance, "And why did you steal my lock pick? It was broken! If I didn't like you, Nate, I would have so thrown it out. Does Eliot know that you stole his home run ball? And why do you have a picture of Sophie when we were doing that job in…"

"Parker!" Nate shouted out in a flurry, "Do your job!"

"Right," Parker agreed with a sinful smile, "Hardison, I'll tell you all about it later!"

"Nothing nasty," Hardison stated with a smile, "I don't need any of those images in my head!"

"Please," Sophie begged in annoyance, "Just open the door and get the files!"

"Touchy, touchy," Hardison snickered at the grifter's distress, "It's almost as if all that stress of conning us into doing this job is finally taking its toll on her."

"I think it's because she keeps trying to keep the rest of us in the shadows," Parker commented with a smirk as she and the hacker got entry into the office with nothing more than a simple snap of the deadbolt door handle, "and we're in!"

"Good," Eliot grumbled from his position in the crowd, "Now hurry up before I decide to leave the both of you here for torture!"

"You lied to us and nearly got your ass grilled," Hardison commented in a snarl, "You're just lucky we're used to this from the two of you. I swear I would have conned whichever one of you died back to life just so Parker could kill you all over again. Then rinse and repeat for me!"

"Aww," Parker sighed sympathetically towards the hacker, "Still mad about that?"

"Hell yes I'm still mad," Hardison fumed, "They could have gotten themselves killed because they're complete bone-headed idiots who don't know when to tell their team the truth!"

"Dammit Hardison!" Eliot growled out in frustration that he couldn't hit the hacker at the moment, "We can hear you, you know!"

"Naw," Hardison sassed back immediately, "I had no idea!"

"Seriously?" Sophie questioned from her seat, "We were trying to protect all of you!"

"Yeah," Hardison agreed, "By lying to us… Again!"

"Seriously, still not over that?" Sophie huffed in annoyance, "It's been three and a half years! Let it go!"

"It's not lying when it's protecting your team!" Eliot grumbled the same time as the grifter said her little piece.

"At least they don't get drunk or shot when they lie to us," Parker pointed out boldly.

"Thanks Parker," Nate sighed at the jibe, "I needed to be reminded of that."

"I'm sorry," Sophie pouted out into the comms, "I don't know how many times I have to say that before you actually believe me! I'm sorry I conned you into stealing the First David! Now, can we please get back to the current con that will save our lives?"

"Did she just…?" Hardison questioned the thief with concern.

"Say sorry for the first time ever?" Parker finished with shock clearly written all over her features, "Yeah, it was kind of creepy! I don't like it! Sophie's not allowed to apologize anymore!"

"Agreed," Hardison nodded at the truth as he followed the thief to the computer desk, "I'll take cyberspace and you take office space?"

"You know me so well," Parker beamed affectionately towards the hacker as she dived straight into the nearest filing cabinet with curious greed.

%

"Okay Eliot," Nate sighed in relief as he went back to business at the familiar sounds of the hacker and thief hard at work, "You're up!"

"Do I have to?" Eliot questioned in a nervous growl.

"Eliot, are you nervous?" Nate asked in shock of the hitter's question.

"I'm playing Sophie's husband without Sophie here," Eliot growled at the mastermind's obvious amusement, "How do you think I'm feeling right now? I'm saying hi to the guy who wants me dead all so we can find out where all of the information is on us and destroy it! What on Earth could be the problem?"

"You've never been this nervous before," Sophie pointed out cleverly, "With the exception of the whole singing thing!"

"I'm deliberately putting everybody's lives in danger!" Eliot hissed at the grifter in irritation, "not to mention the fact that I can't rescue Hardison and Parker if something goes wrong!"

"Eh," Parker huffed at the hitter's worried tone, "It will help us work on our running!"

"Besides," Hardison grumbled from his place in front of the computer, "It's not like we've never been in these situations before!"

"Yeah," Parker agreed with a wide smile, "We totally didn't spend most of the last job stuck in some elevator to escape quite a few bullets ricocheting off of walls and stuff in hopes of trying to kill us!"

"And we definitely have never been buried or beaten in a job prior to that either!" Hardison added on for clarification.

"See," Nate smiled at the pair's fabulous statements, "Everything's fine!"

"Or it will be as soon as you do your part of the con!" Sophie spoke with amusement being very clear in her voice when she gave a light chuckle at the hitter's responding grumble of, "idiots!"

"Eliot, go!" Nate ordered when it looked like the hitter was about to forget the rest of the plan.

The hitter grumbled in irritation of the fact that he was doing this yet again. He marched his way past the first set of guards without even a passing glance. The second set seemed just as oblivious to the hitter's intentions as they merely gawked at the flying pony tail in his quake. The third set of guards actually decided to give some resistance though.

"Hold it right there," the guard to the right of the doorway said as he held his hand against the hitter's shoulder in warning.

"Just passing through," Eliot huffed at the man who was barely two inches taller than him.

"You're going to have to do better than that, sir," the guard to the left stated with a sinister smile that might have suggested he had the idea that he was going to win this fight.

"I'm here to see Perkins," Eliot grumbled in annoyance of the fact that he was supposed to be on his best behavior.

"You're here to see our boss?" the guard on the right laughed at the very idea, "and who may we ask are you?"

"I'm Eliot Spencer," Eliot hissed with a twinkle in his eye he had absolutely no control over.

"Simple," Nate commented at the approach.

"Sometimes getting to the point quickly is better than the alternative, Nate," Sophie rolled her eyes at the mastermind's need for drama; "This isn't Eliot's first time playing grifter! He's doing fine!"

"That's not I was talking about," Nate snapped at the grifter with amusement covering his features, "I was talking about the guards' idea that he's not going to get through!"

"Oh," Sophie sighed in response, "Honestly, that got old for me three years ago!"

"Yeah, but the next part never does," Nate smiled in anticipation of the kill.

"Sir," the guard to the right whose hand was still on Eliot's shoulder hissed, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

"NO can do," Eliot rolled his eyes at the order, "Your boss and I have some unfinished business to attend to. Now, get out of my way or I'm going to have to hit you!"

"Sir," the guard to the left snarled as he drew his gun and put it directly into Eliot's face, "This is me politely asking you to vacate the premises now!"

"And this is me politely telling you no," Eliot retorted before he went into action.

The hitter grabbed the gun in his face and pulled it past him so he could kick the gun-holder in the shin. He then proceeded to kick the other guard in the chest just because he could. He punched the first guard in the nose and then unloaded the gun in his hand while simultaneously knocking the other guard out with a sweep, kick, punch. Both guards were unconscious on the floor by the time the third person finally entered the room.

"Eliot Spencer, why am I not surprised?" Perkins demanded as all of his remaining guards pointed their guns in the hitter's direction.

Eliot shrugged in response with a warm smile on his face before he replied, "Well, I did walk in through the front door!"

"So my guards tell me," Perkins giggled, seriously giggled, at the hitter's comment, "Care to join me for tea?"

"Why not?" Eliot shrugged as he waited for the mark to lead the way.

"Classy," Hardison commented from his spot in front of Perkins' computer room, "That beats Eliot's previous record of thirty-two seconds."

"It's about time," Parker grumbled as she continued to look through the wide array of cabinets in the office, "Even I beat that time when I'm grifting!"

"Being taught by a professional grifter is cheating," Hardison sighed in response, "however, you do have a point so I will let the technicality slide."

"Dude, who's side are you on?" Eliot whispered into his comms in frustration of the hacker's picky statements.

"Parker, what are you looking for?" Hardison demanded of the thief as a distraction, "There is absolutely no way you're still looking for the rest of the files on us!"

"Naw," Parker agreed as she waved the files for the hacker to see, "I found them five seconds after we started looking. I'm trying to see if he has any money hidden around somewhere since I'm waiting for you to upload that virus thingy to his computer after you completely strip it!"

"Oh," Hardison nodded at the comment, "See if he's got any secret safes while you're at it! This guy deserves to lose everything for threatening us!"

"Checked," Parker sighed as she started her way towards the hacker in disappointment, "This guy's weird. He keeps his planner of all of his activities in a safe but his wallet was just lying around on his desk all unprotected!"

"And you just left it sitting on the desk?" Nate questioned in confusion.

"I'm a thief," Parker huffed at the mastermind dramatically, "I have standards!"

"Parker, get his planner," Sophie ordered as she and the mastermind shared an amused chuckle at the thief's statement.

"What are you thinking?" Nate posed as the hitter's conversation started.

"So," Perkins sighed when the hitter was finally satisfied with his perfect cup of tea, "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"There is that hit you have out on my head," Eliot smiled at the mark's play.

"Ahh," Perkins sighed in disgust as he set down his teacup for some reason the hitter couldn't quite fathom, "That!"

"What?" Eliot shrugged in response, "Did you really expect me not to find out about it? I'm very good at what I do, Perkins! I have spies even you don't know about!"

"So it wasn't Jeffrey then?" Perkins grumbled at the news, "Damn, I could have kept around for a few more months! I wish you had stopped by sooner before I had him taken care of!"

"Wow, this guy is bad," Hardison groaned at the tacky back and forth, "He's like the ultimate move version of the aristocrat bad guy!"

"I have his planner," Parker smirked triumphantly, "Now, all we need is for Hardison to finish up and the hacker and thief are out!"

"I'm done," Hardison replied immediately after, "Ready when you are, Mama!"

"Don't forget that planner!" Sophie ordered promptly.

"Duh," Parker stared at the hacker as if the grifter were crazy, "She does know that I do this for a living right?"

"Eliot, ask Perkins for a more comfortable meeting," Nate rolled his eyes at the thief's statement as he jumped onto the grifter's thinking train.

"Actually," Eliot calmly replied to Perkins question with a pointed sip of his tea, "I'm here with my wife! I heard about the hit from somebody looking to get the job done! Obviously, my other half wasn't too happy about the blood spilt on her carpet!"

"Oh," Perkins nodded as he realized where the hitter was coming from, "You want to find a way around this silly little thing! Fine, what's your price?"

"That was going to be my question," Eliot smiled at the mark's play, "but you already knew that!"

"I want you to steal a painting for me," Perkins admitted after careful thinking.

"Everybody does," Eliot agreed with the assessment, "How much is this one worth?"

"Thirty million dollars," Perkins explained with a grin, "The exact price on that pretty head of yours!"

"Who has it?" Eliot asked with a smile that was trying very hard to not be a scowl.

"Your brother," Perkins answered back immediately.

"I don't have a brother," Eliot growled out in interruption of the man's smirk.

"Michael Weathers," Perkins finished as if he had never been interrupted, "He's your half-brother born six years before you were, and the two of you never got along and clearly still don't!"

"And you put the hit on my head because?" Eliot asked as he allowed his scowl to appear on his face as nicely as possible.

"I had to get your attention somehow," Perkins shrugged in response, "You know how cutthroat this business can be! Why not make the best of it?"

"Meeting Eliot," Nate reminded the hitter urgently.

"When would you like to discuss the details?" Eliot rolled his eyes at the offer.

"Tomorrow morning, nine o'clock," Perkins proposed with a smile, "That good for you?"

"Can't," Nate explained for the hitter immediately, "You and your wife have plans that cannot be interrupted."

"What are our plans?" Sophie demanded with narrowed eyebrows.

"We'll find out after we get that planner," Nate winked at the grifter's thinking.

"I'm afraid my wife has me previously engaged," Eliot commented with as much sadness in his voice as he could muster.

"Then I suggest finding a way to get out of it," Perkins stated slowly as he moved closer to the hitter with danger in his step, "Or I will suddenly remember how to take out your team back home in Boston, Mr. Spencer."

"I think I just got sick with the flu," Eliot snarled at the man with absolutely no form of politeness in his tone now.

"Very good," Perkins nodded at the hitter's brilliance, "My men will help you find your way out if you can't remember it!"

"I remember," Eliot growled in warning, "See you tomorrow at nine, Perkins!"

"Bye," Perkins waved the hitter away before he turned his attention to his desk.

%

"I brought the planner," Parker sighed as she raised the object high in the air for all to see when the hitter burst through the door to meet with them.

"Perkins threatened us," Hardison sighed in response, "Which means he knows we exist!"

"Which means he's going to figure out who went after his computer today!" Eliot finished for the hacker as he slammed into his seat, "I say Sophie and I finish up the con while the rest of you get lost!"

"No," Nate denied immediately, "At the very least you need me to finish it up too! Parker and Hardison are still needed to put everything back if we're going to find the person who hired him to come after us! It's too late to pull out now!"

"You see," Eliot shouted at the mastermind immediately, "That's why I didn't want to tell you! Now, you want to take out the guy behind this as well as Perkins and we don't have the man power to do it!"

"I know what you're thinking, Nate," Sophie commented to avoid another argument between the muscle and brains, "but Eliot's right! We need to focus all our energy on Perkins right now! We can't spend our time routing out the bigger fish when we already have a whale to watch out for!"

"It was your plan to include us!' Nate snapped at the grifter immediately, "You obviously wanted to go after the bigger fish too!"

"Yeah," Sophie agreed at the accusation immediately, "but that was before we found out that the small fish has a whole pond of his own!"

"Could we please stop talking in metaphors?" Hardison begged of the leaders in confusion, "I'm starting to get a headache!"

"And I have Perkins' planner," Parker repeated as she shoved said item on the table in front of everybody, "Which has to mean something good came of this!"

"I'm just saying that Sophie and I can finish this without the rest of you!" Eliot grumbled out his argument immediately, "the con doesn't need you to actually show up, Nate! All I have to do is agree to do the job and the rest of the con will just fall into place!"

"When has anything ever just fallen in to place for us, man?" Hardison demanded of the hitter in confusion of the tactics.

"Besides, Parker stole Perkins' planner," Sophie commented as she picked up the item and leafed through it, "We need somebody to put it back before he realizes it's gone!"

"I say we pull out while we still can!' Hardison stated boldly to the shock of all, "We can all take that vacation we were talking about and disappear!"

"But we'll have to split up," Parker poked the holes in the hacker's plan with a sad smile, "And we don't know how long we'll have to disappear in order to get ourselves out of trouble!"

"We're never going to have another opportunity like this!' Nate snapped at the youngest pair sadly, "We can't pull out and split up when Hardison and Sophie are still flying under the radar of being known members of our team!"

"I still don't know how I managed that!' Hardison grumbled with his hands raised high in protest, "I mean, I've got just as many enemies as the rest of ya'll!"

"I didn't do anything to get caught!" Parker blurted out, "I shouldn't even be on that list!"

"I know how I stayed off the radar," Sophie shrugged.

"They know about Parker because she was pictured with me at the scene of a few crimes," Eliot explained to the table at large, "They don't know her rep or her identity! Hardison did a good job of scrubbing all images of Sophie clean because even I, and my sources, can't connect her back to us! Everybody's knows about Nate because of his stupid stint in prison…!"

"Yes, that was stupid, I know," Nate grumbled at the hitter's obvious impatience over that old situation.

"And Hardison's Hardison!" Eliot finished with a growl and a glare in the mastermind's direction, "The geek's good at what he does!"

"Ooh," Parker hissed at the hitter's statement, "We must really be in trouble because Eliot just said Hardison was good at his job!"

"Thank you for appreciating my work, Eliot," Hardison grunted at the hitter with a sad smile.

"Well you make my job easier and this is the only time I will ever mention it so take it while it's still being given!" Eliot snapped at the hacker as he continued to glare at the mastermind perplexed, "What do we do, Nate?"

"Perkins is having a dinner party tomorrow night," Sophie stated before the mastermind could even speak, "I can get invited and wrap up the con then!"

"Which means I have to enter into play right before Eliot's meeting," Nate nodded in response, "At least now we have a time frame to finish up!"

"What about the rest of us?" Hardison questioned before the hitter could say anything.

"You and Parker are going to use the party as cover to return the stolen goods," Nate said as he watched the grifter hand the planner back to the blonde thief, "I'll be Sophie's date to the party!"

"You want me to turn the party into a setup to get me killed?" Eliot asked of the mastermind in hopes of getting the whole picture.

"It's already a setup," Sophie replied to the hitter's question, "Sorry, but I took the liberty of giving my number to Perkins to call if you were to show up! I took my comm out when that part of the plan went into motion!"

"She apologized twice in one day," Parker whispered to the hacker urgently, "We're in really big trouble!"

"I figured it was a setup for the morning," Eliot replied as he stared at the grifter in confusion.

"It is," Nate nodded at the hitter's assessment, "That's why I'm going to make myself appear right before your meeting with him. I'm going to guarantee that Perkins decides to kill you instead of going after the painting I have that doesn't really exist!"

"Oh," Hardison gasped as he realized what the plan was, "The party is going to be yours and Sophie's alibi!"

"The meeting is going to be the formation of the setup," Parker finished off with a smile, "I like it!"

"Which means Hardison and Parker are going to be out of the way," Eliot grinned at the plan, "and all I have to do is hit!"

"While Sophie and I finish up Perkins demise at the party," Nate nodded at the smiles he was receiving, "Then we can focus on the guy who hired him to take us down!"

"How does one take us down?" Parker inquired quietly.

"Um," Hardison sighed in thought, "That's a good question, Mama!"

"Let's not worry about that right now," Sophie advised with a pointed look directed at the other two men who knew the answer as well as her, "Keep your minds on the con!"

"But Perkins said," Parker paused as she rethought what she was saying, "well, hinted that he knew how to defeat us!"

"And considering the fact that we took down Damien Moreau," Hardison added slowly, "There would be a lot of people who want to!"

"Therefore," Parker continued with a grateful look towards the hacker's persistence, "How do we get taken down?"

"The same way anybody gets taken down, Parker," Eliot growled in response.

"And how is that, Eliot?" Hardison demanded of the hitter with wide eyes.

"A death," Nate finished for the hitter immediately, "In our case, several!"

"Or just one," Sophie and Eliot pointed out in whispered unison.

"Get some sleep," Nate ordered the two youngest members of the team immediately, "We have a busy day tomorrow and for some of us it begins very early!"

"Okay," Parker nodded at the hidden meaning, "Come on, Hardison, we can go watch a movie in my room!"

"Yeah," Hardison nodded in agreement, "Let's do that!"

"What did you two mean by just one?" Nate questioned the two remaining members of his team when the hotel room door slammed shut behind the hacker and thief.

"Nothing," Sophie and Eliot responded immediately.

"NO more lying," Nate scolded the pair with a pointed glare at each of them.

"You," Eliot stated simply as he seemed to not care about the grifter's warning gaze.

"Me?" Nate inquired in interest.

"Everybody knows your weakness," Eliot quipped back in reply, "At least, they know about your son and how that affects you!"

"Eliot!" Sophie scolded the hitter accordingly.

"No, Soph," Nate shook his head ready for the hitter this time, "let him finish!"

"Don't!" Sophie pleaded with the hitter when she realized the looks being shared between the two men in front of her.

"Your son is a soft spot for you, Nate," Eliot explained as simply as possible, "Anybody can get you to react irrationally by reminding you of it! That's what made you overinvested with the mayor of Belbridge, that's what got you into trouble with the heat case, that's what gets us into trouble when we visit a hospital. It's a liability, Nate!"

"Sophie?" Nate questioned the grifter to his right immediately.

"Don't drag me into this," Sophie ordered as she got up to leave.

"NO," Nate begged as he stood in the grifter's way immediately, "I just want to know how that will bring us down."

"It won't," Sophie sat down at the sad truth, "He's only pointing out your flaws, you fatal flaws!"

"So I have a mean streak whenever somebody reminds me of my son," Nate huffed in annoyance, "How is that a liability to this team!"

"It's not," Sophie rubbed a hand on the mastermind's shoulder with a frown.

"It's what we'd do to keep that pain away from you that is," Eliot explained himself further for everybody's benefit.

"Are you saying that I'm this team's weakness?" Nate demanded of the hitter in earnest.

"IN a way," Eliot shrugged in response, "Yeah, Nate, you are and before you say anything listen! We care about you! Everybody knows that we've all become some sort of family in some way or another! That's the liability!"

"Because you're the one who brought us all together," Sophie finished for the hitter sadly.

"So the only way to take our team down, is to take me down?" Nate clarified slowly.

"NO," Sophie shook her head at the mastermind's thoughts, "The only way to take us down is to take down our greatest weakness!"

"I'm the team's weakness?" Nate countered as he stared at the grifter with a look of pure horror on his face.

"NO," Sophie denied the idea immediately, "Our need to protect each other from our darkest hours is! Everybody just knows about yours! They can only guess with the rest of us!"

"Oh," Nate sighed at the truth, "I see."

"I'm going to…" Eliot sighed when he noticed the looks being shared between the two leaders, "do something that doesn't involve you two!"

"How would you take me down?" Nate demanded of the grifter when he was certain the hitter had left them alone.

"Huh?" Sophie asked back in hopes of dropping the subject.

"You heard me," Nate replied with an arched brow, "How would you destroy me? How would you bring me down?"

"Does it matter?" Sophie questioned back in answer.

"Tell me," Nate commanded stubbornly not letting it go, "How would you take me down?"

"Nate," Sophie whined at the sudden onslaught of dark questions being thrown her way.

"Sophie," Nate answered back with a hand wrapping around her slender wrist in hopes of getting an answer, "Please, how would you take me down?"

"I'd attack your heart," Sophie responded smoothly as she started holding onto the hand that was so delicately wrapped around her wrist, "I'd attack what you love most."

"How?" Nate demanded firmly.

"Maggie," Sophie answered in shame of the truth, "I'd go after Maggie."

"How would that take me down?" Nate interrogated in need of understanding, "I already lost her."

"You didn't lose her life, Nate," Sophie huffed in disgust of the gruesome subject, "You just lost the right to be married to her."

"How is that different from losing her?" Nate countered back immediately.

"You've experienced losing a child who was your whole world," Sophie explained carefully as she continued to play with the hand that was so tightly holding onto her wrist for dear life, "You know the pain that takes place in that kind of situation. You don't know what it's like to lose your equal. You don't know what it's like to lose a lover, friend, and confidant."

"Maggie and I divorced," Nate admitted begrudgingly as he tried to figure out what the grifter was telling him.

"But she's still alive, Nate," Sophie groaned at the fact she had to explain it, "You haven't lost her completely and you still love her despite everything that's happened. The best way to destroy you would be to kill your wife. She's your greatest weakness because she's your last connection to Sam! She's the only way to stop you!"

"Ex." Nate pointed out stonily as his grip tightened on the grifter's wrist yet again, "Maggie is my ex-wife, Sophie."

"I know," Sophie smiled miserably at the subtle statement that wasn't so subtle, "I should be going, busy day tomorrow."

"Be careful," Nate ordered greedily as he clasped the grifter's hands possessively in brief before releasing them for her exit.

"Always," Sophie calmly replied as she exited the room without another word.

The mastermind stood watching the door in absolute silence as he tried to comprehend the information the grifter had just given him. He knew there was truth behind her words but he could not help but feel they were a little more than highly wrong. Nate continued to stare at the wall for a few more seconds before he finally decided to acknowledge the other inkling he felt at the back of his neck.

"What's wrong with her answer?" Nate asked as he turned around to stare at the person who had been standing behind him.

"Right idea, wrong person," Eliot explained with an innocent look on his face.

"How would you take me down?" Nate obliged the hitter with arms open wide in invitation.

"Sophie," Eliot stated simply.

"Why not the rest of the team?" Nate hiccupped in response.

"Sophie already explained that one to you," Eliot said with sympathy deep in his voice at the pained expression on the mastermind's face.

"How would you destroy the team?" Nate gasped out in fear of the answer the hitter would honestly give him.

"The same way I would destroy you," Eliot popped out in a groan, "Destroy you and the team's over because we won't just lose one member."

"We'll lose two," Nate groaned at the news.

"Plus, Hardison won't be able to stop Parker," Eliot continued earnestly enough, "And I won't stop until you do."

"You think I'd murder someone over that?" Nate hissed at the insinuation.

"You'd be out of your mind," Eliot explained with a shrug, "and you'd be in the right to do it. I'm more worried about what Parker and Hardison would do in that situation."

"Parker would kill them too," Nate grimaced at the cold fact, "and Hardison would try to stop her."

"I think he would help when convincing wasn't enough," Eliot agreed with a nod.

"Would you stop me?" Nate asked the hitter with something in his voice that was foreign to both sets of ears.

"I don't think so," Eliot admitted softly, "I don't think I'll want to."

"Why her?" Nate asked just to be sure.

"Why do you always have to ask that question when it comes to her safety?" Eliot posed back in simple retaliation to the rhetorical question, "That's why I went to her first! She can handle losing you! You can't lose her!"

"Why?" Nate growled out a little more desperate than intended.

"That's the difference between the two of you," Eliot finished his statement slowly, "She's already experienced a loss like that. You haven't. That's why killing the rest of us is the best way to destroy Sophie and killing her is the only way of destroying you."

"It won't come to that," Nate stated defiantly to the simple threat in their midst.

"Not if I can help it," Eliot nodded in acceptance of his task, "She's stronger than you give her credit, Nate. They all are!"

"You all are," Nate corrected pointedly, "Get some rest, Eliot. We've got a busy day ahead of us!"

"Yep," Eliot nodded as he left the room with a silent prayer.

**A/N 2:** _So apparently Parker and Hardison don't want to have a nice little moment until more towards the end. We shall have to see in the next chapter. I promise that it will only be one more chapter you have to wait for before all of the other chapters can be posted. My problem for this fic is the middle, can't you tell? Review with ideas and because you were all so patient in waiting for the next part of the story I shall give you a very big hint. BIG HINT: The person lying in the hospital bed isn't exactly not in the scenes that flash-forward. Well, what the hell does that mean? You will see… hahahaha! Evil grin. Review if you notice something isn't quite right!_


	7. Parlor Fight!

**A/N:** _Okay, so we are finally to the point where questions are going to start getting answered. Apparently, there will be one more chapter before you have to wait a matter of moments for the end of this story. Why? Because it didn't make sense to end this chapter on the next chapter's ending when this ending is a chapter ending. In other news: Yes, we will find out who hired Perkins… but will it be this chapter or the next? Who's in the stupid bed that we've been reading this story for so long to find out? Good question! I guess that means you should keep reading it! Warning: Some Eliot whump is about to happen._

Perkins' Mansion: The Day the Con Failed

Nate walked into the mark's mansion the way he walked into any dangerous situation, with his head held high, a skip to his step, and a smile on his face. He winked at the guards as he slowly made his way towards the business portion of the meeting. The chewing gum was definitely coming in handy as he stopped directly in Perkins' office and began his elegant spiel of diplomacy.

"So," Nate snarled at the mark with a smile, "I hear you're the man my sister-in-law hired to knock off my brother!"

"That would be correct," Perkins smiled at the mastermind's unusual entrance, "Mr. Weathers."

"I don't know," Nate bobbed his head side to side enthusiastically, "Why are you trying to kill my brother?"

"Oh please," Perkins rolled his eyes at the mastermind's poor attempt at ignorance, "I know you're sleeping with her!"

"Oh," Nate nodded at the assessment, "Then I guess I can get rid of this gum then, huh?"

The mastermind burst out laughing at his own little joke as he removed the gum from his mouth in the most annoying way possible.

"What do you want?" Perkins demanded when he was certain he could not contain his polite disinterest any longer.

"You know he's going to expect an ambush during your little meeting today, right?" Nate demanded as he looked around the room for anything he could use later on.

"I assure you that my men can take care of him," Perkins smiled at the other man's concern.

"You do know he took out all of Moreau's men in one go, right?" Nate asked back just to ruffle some feathers for his own entertainment.

"I can assure you that my men are…" Perkins paused in careful thought of how best to put it, "bettered qualified for Mr. Spencer's unique talents!"

"Are you trying to tell me that you've got better henchmen than Damien Moreau?" Nate questioned with a laugh at the very idea, "You do realize that until my brother and his band of miscreants showed up, Moreau was considered the ultimate badass right?"

"Yes, well," Perkins grimaced at the little slap, "I have something of far greater value to use against him, Mr. Weathers."

"And what would that be?" Nate demanded as he fished out some information for the hitter, "Beef on a stick?"

The mastermind laughed at his crude joke to keep up the annoyance levels of the guards and their employer.

"Actually, I was talking about his little team of thieves, Mr. Weathers," Perkins smiled at the mastermind's statement, "Or are you not aware that they have a weakness?"

"Oh yeah," Nate nodded as he allowed his character to get a little serious now, "a big weakness from what I hear. Apparently, their mastermind has this thing about hospitals and his son being dead and all."

"Oh that's not their weakness, Mr. Weathers," Perkins chuckled at the man's sorrow thoughts, "That's just a perk!"

"A perk?" Nate questioned in confusion as he tried to not show the wheels were turning in his head.

"He's testing you, Nate," Sophie commented in a slow huff, "He's trying to see if he can trust you. You're going to have to do better than cheap jokes and parlor tricks!"

"What's the real prize then?" Nate asked with a simple smirk to show he was a little interested.

"Their hitter," Perkins explained with a waspish smile at the mastermind's questions, "He's the real weakness to the team."

"Eliot's the weakness?" Parker questioned in confusion, "He's the one out of all of us who will actually survive in a Zombie Apocalypse or a hostile takeover!"

"Dude's strong as iron and he's sitting there saying he's our weakness!" Hardison griped along with the thief.

"I don't get it," Nate shrugged at the evil man's simple play, "Sure my brother's a greedy bastard who tends to use his muscle more often than his brains. He's even the one who steals girlfriends and then convinces them to go against you later on, but he's not exactly the weakest guy I know!"

"Gee," Eliot grumped at the mastermind's play, "I wonder what that was all about! Do you have a problem I need to worry about, Nate?"

"Maybe it's the whole visiting Sophie's house thing," Parker proposed enthusiastically to the hitter's complaints.

"It was to protect you!" Sophie huffed at the fact that they were still on about that.

"Exactly," Perkins sneered at the mastermind's statement, "He's the strongest member of his little team of bandits! That's why he's the weakness!"

"I'm confused!" Parker pointed out cheerfully.

"That makes all of us!" Hardison nodded at the thief's confession.

"Bloody hell that makes sense," Sophie swore at the mark's words.

"What?" Eliot questioned in complete rage over the fact that the grifter actually believed their mark had a point.

"How does being the strongest make him the weakest?" Nate put everybody's thoughts to words.

"Take out the protector and what are you left with?" Perkins demanded of the mastermind in invitation.

"Easy pickings," Nate answered in understanding, "Damn! I didn't see that coming!"

"See," Perkins smiled at the mastermind's statement, "I have it all under control!"

"And I have a plan," Nate smirked at the little segue, "So, you asked my brother over to steal you a very expensive painting?"

"As your lover and I discussed, yes," Perkins agreed with a greedy smile.

"How do you propose on getting him to trust you?" Nate asked of the mark in interest.

"Simple plan," Perkins stated in a very bored tone, "Plan the meeting and then watch him walk out. He'll be dead before he even makes it to the parking lot!"

"In your own home?" Nate demanded with a laugh, "Well that's a… that's a way to go about it!"

"Do you have something better?' Perkins growled at the mastermind in irritation.

"Yeah," Nate continued to laugh at the awful plan, "We're going to set him up!"

"We are, are we?" Perkins obliged with open arms.

"Make the plan to steal my valuable item," Nate ordered with a crooked grin, "and use the time in between the meeting and the "job" to get to know the place he's heading to."

"You're talking about an ambush at the sight of the job," Perkins nodded along intently, "That could work."

"You've got that party tonight, don't you?" Nate demanded of the man with a smile, "Well there's the perfect alibi right there! Have him steal from the place while your festivities are going on! Me and his misses will attend as business colleagues of a sort. Your goons kick him off during a heist and the police report will do the rest of the work for us."

"We get away with murder by committing a grab and kill heist," Perkins smiled at the idea, "We all have the perfect alibi…"

"And Eliot Spencer is no more," Nate finished off with a predatory smile at the mark's solution, "It's a win, win."

"I like it," Perkins nodded at the plan, "The party starts at seven, Mr. Weathers. You and your… brother's widow shouldn't miss it!"

"Thanks for the invite!" Nate cheered at the news, "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"Until later then," Perkins raised his glass in salute.

"You got it," Nate nodded as he headed towards his car without a look back.

"Anybody else thinking that was way too easy even for us?" Hardison mumbled over the comms quietly.

"Yeah, he's up to something," Nate agreed coolly as he got into his car, "Hardison, figure out what he's up to! Eliot, be on the look-out because Perkins isn't going to play nice!"

"Great," Eliot grumbled angrily, "Can't I go one day where I don't have to beat the crap out of everybody because they're being stupid? Just once, I would like to be able to walk into a meeting for the sake of actually having a damn meeting!"

"Eliot," Nate retorted calmly, "You don't have to be nice!"

"Oh, I wasn't gonna be," Eliot smirked at the mastermind's command, "at least not anymore!"

"Alright, man," Hardison sighed at the hitter's remark, "but please remember that you are on a two fractures only curfew! That means no broken fingers in several places, no dislocated shoulder that cracks through an elbow, no protruding bones of any kind…"

"Two breaks only, Hardison, I got it!" Eliot growled at the hacker as he worked on parking his car.

"Don't yell at me!" Hardison complained, "It's Sophie's rule!"

"Well, if he had properly set his last fifteen stress fractures there wouldn't even be a rule!" Sophie huffed at the hacker in betrayal, "I told him not to let it fester and what did he do?"

"Does the two broken bones rule apply to me as well?" Parker questioned the grifter in confusion, "Because I got to tell ya that if my rigging fails I cannot control how many different ways I break something! Not one bit!"

"Parker," Nate snapped at the thief immediately, "Stop talking before she decides to give you a no rigging rule!"

"I'm a thief!" Parker announced to the world in misunderstanding, "It's what I do!"

"I'm not having this conversation with you," Sophie rolled her eyes at the pair.

"Parker, she's just concerned for our safety,' Hardison tried to explain slowly.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who gets hurt," Parker growled at the hacker immediately, "You do which doesn't even make sense 'cuz all you ever do is jab your fingers into a keyboard all day!"

"Woman!" Hardison shrieked at the thief's statement, "There is a reason she had to create the think before you type rule! You know that! I couldn't type for three whole days, Mama! Three! Whole! Days!"

"And people wonder why laws are broken," Sophie whimpered to the mastermind through the comms.

"You wanted children," Nate commented as he continued to drive through the town.

"Children, yes," Sophie agreed with the assessment, "Full-grown adults who act like children… no!"

"You know you love them," Nate replied with a smile in his voice.

"I'm not spreading that rumor around," Sophie commented back to glares from the two people in the same room as her.

"That's just cold," Hardison snipped at the grifter with a shake of his head.

"You came back for us," Parker pointed out with a smile, "Twice!"

"The first time doesn't count," Sophie complained at the thief's record, "We all came back!"

"Yeah but you're the one who got us all back together the second time," Hardison replied smoothly, "Which is what she's counting!"

"Oh," Sophie nodded in response.

"Yeah, hi," Eliot growled through the comms in irritation, "Don't mind me! I'm just walking into a mansion all alone with absolutely no idea how many men are actually in the building and if I'm going to make it out of there alive, but please continue with your usual banter! I'm sure that it will be very quick if I die!"

"You're not dying!" Hardison snapped at the hitter immediately, "You practically are the living Hercules, man!"

"And quit complaining," Parker growled at the hitter in a very similar tone to his own, "At least you're not parked at the side lines like some of us!"

"Hey, that was Nate's call not mine," Sophie shot towards the thief with narrowed eyes.

"My call," Nate rolled his eyes at the grifter's antics, "Really? Eliot, there were six guards with guns in the first hallway, three in the second and eight or nine in Perkins' office! Do you think you can take them all?"

"Ex-SWAT, Nate," Eliot noted as he pulled up to the drive, "It's a very distinctive stance."

"Not to mention the way they carry themselves when holding a gun," Sophie agreed to the surprise of everybody.

"How do you know what the SWAT team looks like?" Hardison demanded angrily.

"Get chased by enough of them and you memorize their body language pretty quickly," Sophie shrugged in response.

"I'm sorry about that by the way," Nate commented out of nowhere.

"Ahh," Sophie waved off the apology immediately, "I almost killed you when I triggered that booby trap in Istanbul. That just makes us even!"

"Yeah," Eliot growled at the group impatiently, "The guards are no longer at the gate!"

"Ooh," Parker sighed at the news, "Eliot's going to half smash people's skulls in with a vase or something equally cool!"

"Seriously?" Hardison demanded of the thief in complete shock of the statement, "That was the best you could do?"

"What? Short notice," Parker pouted at the hacker's denial of her fantastic statement.

"Yeah," Eliot cringed as he continued to walk further into the mansion, "Definitely a set-up!"

"Alright, Eliot, get out of there," Nate ordered immediately, "If they realize you knowingly walked into an ambush they're going to think somethings' up!"

"Already on my way out the door," Eliot agreed as he started back tracking through the house.

"Going somewhere?" Perkins demanded from the mansion's front door.

"I thought we were going to have a meeting," Eliot responded with a shrug as he flexed his muscles and took account of the six goons suddenly popping out behind him.

"Yeah," Perkins nodded at the assessment, "My employer has other plans!"

"I can see that," Eliot agreed as nine more guards came out of hiding all around the hallway.

"Hope you don't mind me heading out," Perkins posed as he pointed towards the door, "I have a party to plan for and I'm not a huge fan of… well, let's just say I'm not longer in the watching them bleed business!"

"No worries," Eliot shook his head as eight more guys popped up into view, "I understand! I'm going to be a little preoccupied myself!"

"Good luck, Spencer," Perkins waved good-bye as he left the mansion without another look back.

"Eliot," Nate sighed into the comms when the quiet was understandably filled with a little too much tension, "Do your worse!"

"Anything else, boss?" Eliot growled into the comms as he tried to figure out the quickest escape route.

"Your curfew has been suspended pending further notice," Sophie sang into the comms with a bitter tone.

"Sweet," Eliot grinned as he prepared himself for the newest battle.

Eliot began his defensive strategy as soon as he felt an odd wind coming from behind him. He dodged the hit and grrabbed the leg immediately. He used the leverage he gained from that to drive the guy whose leg he was holding into the five goons closest to him. He took a moment to laugh at the fact that they all fell like a house of cards before he felt a kick to his ribs and a punch to his face. The hitter twirled around and used the next rounds of strikes to knock two of his opponents into a nearby wall where the mirro that had been hanging there fell onto their heads perfectly.

"Two down," Eliot huffed as he dodged a few more blows his way, "Twenty-one to go!"

"Twenty-one?" Hardison squeaked out in horror, "Uh-uh! You're not going to fight twenty-one people all on your own! No way, Jose!"

"Parker," Nate ordered as an idea popped into his head, "Use Eliot's distraction to return Perkins' planner! Eliot, Hardison and I will be waiting outside for you in the van! Parker will be asisting as soon as she finishes her job!"

"What about my car?" Eliot questioned as three goons tackled him into the wall while five of their comrades lay on the ground with different degrees of bloodloss all around them.

"Sophie's going to be driving that once you give her the keys!" Nate explained as he and the other members of their team went to rescue their hitter from trouble.

"You know," Eliot sighed as he knocked out two more goons with a bludgeon sized statue that was just laying around, "I can take these guys and still drive a car!"

"Not with a concussion!" Sophie hissed at the hitter's statement with a roll of her eyes.

"It's only a minor concussion!" Eliot complained easily as he took a hit from two of Perkins' largest men.

"Yeah," Hardison rolled his eyes as he ate popcorn while watching the security feeds from Perkins' parlor, "You're not winning this one, man!"

"What?" Parker demanded of the hacker in confusion as she watched the screen with just as much interest, "What show are you watching? 'Cuz the one I'm watching has Eliot totally kicking butt! Hey, save some for me!"

"Shut up, Parker!" Eliot growled as he tried to wrestle a guy who was cutting off his air supply.

"Oh no," Hardison answered the thief's question through a mouthful of gummy frogs, "Eliot is totally kicking ass in there! I was talking about his fight with Sophie!"

"Oh," Parker nodded at the hacker's assessment, "Yeah, he's already lost that one!"

"Dammit, guys!" Eliot shouted as he broke a vase over some guy's head only to be tackled to the ground by two more goons, "I can hear you! Now, stop talking while I finish this up!"

%

"Hey, watch it!" Eliot complained as the grifter pulled a little too tight on the dressing on his ribs.

"Oops," Sophie hissed as she tried to be a little gentler with the rest of the bandages, "At least you only have a minor concussion!"

"Yeah, yeah," Eliot snarled at the girfter angrily.

"So," Nate spoke when the hitter was well taken care of, "That didn't go well!"

"Good news is we knew it wasn't going to go well before we sent Eliot in there," Parker piped up enthusiastically.

"Don't poke!" Eliot warned as he noticed the sparkle in the thief's eye.

The thief just stuck out her tongue in annoyance and shuffled closer to the hacker in bitter obedience of the order.

"At least we have the party," Sophie stated sadly, "That's another plus!"

"And he hasn't even noticed my virus yet," Hardison shrugged, "My baby is just waiting for the right order and boom! Good-bye evil business!"

"Yeah," Nate sighed at the thought, "Problem! Sophie and I have to go to the party now!"

"Why?" Parker asked with a crinkled brow, "I already dropped off the planner while Eliot was playing with his goons!"

"It was not playing, Parker!' Eliot growled at the thief angrily, "I was fighting to get out of the door!"

"Well, if Sophie didn't take away my Taser I could have Tasered them and saved you the trouble!" Parker blurted out angrily.

"Parker, for the last time," Sophie glared at the thief's statement, "You're not getting that Taser back for another month! You could have really done more damage to that cop in Tahiti!"

"He was fine!" Parker huffed at the grifter immediately.

"He can't have any more children!" Sophie stressed her point angrily.

"Sophie's an overbearing mother!" Nate interrupted the fight to get back on track, "We get that, Parker! Right now we have more important things to worry about, like the fact that we have to rip off all of Perkins' business and tie it to the biggest ring of drug lords we can find on such short notice, okay?"

"We're going to pin him up for drug smuggling?" Hardison demanded of the mastermind in interest, "Man, don't you think that's a bit much?"

"Need I remind you that he tried to kill Eliot," Nate snapped at the hacker immediately.

"Point taken," Hardison nodded at the mastermind's statement, "I'm just saying that grand larceny, attempted murder, breaking and entering, murder, accessory to murder, antiquities smuggling, money laundering, and drug smuggling seems like a bit much!"

"Dude hired twenty-three people to kill me in his parlor!" Eliot snapped at the hacker in frustration, "Honestly, I don't think we're being cruel enough!"

"We can get him on a minor sexual harassment charge too if you want me to push him," Sophie posed to the mastermind merrily.

"Hell no!" Hardison shook his head at the very idea of it.

"Is that worse than the prostitution?" Parker demanded in confusion.

"Ain't no way in hell is laying a finger on you!" Eliot growled at the grifter immediately.

"No, that won't be necessary," Nate stated simply, "No, I have something better planned for him! Yeah… something he won't see coming a mile away!"

"What?" Parker asked in interest.

"Ooh," Sophie smiled at the mastermind's thoughts, "We're going to give him a little unexpected visitor from the beyond!"

"But I…" Eliot began before a smile started growing upon his face, "Oh! I do love a good party!"

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Hardison demanded of the mastermind carefully.

"Yep," Nate nodded at the hacker's assessment, "We've got a party to crash!"

"But you and Sophie are invited?" Parker questioned in confusion.

"Sophie's not the one crashing," Eliot smiled at the brilliant plan the mastermind posed.

"Who is?" Hardison asked in the same state as the poor thief.

"The hit will be," Sophie commented while sharing a sinister smile with the mastermind as she joined him in making a very classy exit.

"Oh," Parker giggled as she and the hacker finally caught up with the rest of the team, "We're using Eliot as bait again."

"Oh this is going to be fun," Hardison smiled at the revelation with malice in his tone.

:)

**A/N:** _Ooh, now we're getting somewhere. Now, which of our lovely victims is going to end up in that hospital bed after that? No, Eliot is not it. (Or is he?) Distracting side note: Somebody please write me a Percy Jackson and Leverage Crossover! Do me the favor and I will do a fanfic favor for you! _


	8. Bang!

**A/N:**_ Warning: More Eliot whump is about to happen. In other more important news: somebody's about to get shot! Yes, questions will be answered and the person in that bed will be revealed. Finally… continue!_

Perkins' Mansion: The Day the Con Failed- The Party

"If this goes wrong we all die," Eliot pointed out with a growl, "Not just me and not just Sophie. You know that right?"

"We're not going to fail," Nate explained with a pained expression on his face, "Besides, Parker and Hardison know they're job is to get out as soon as possible if anything goes wrong!"

"Yes," Parker huffed at the mastermind belligerently from right beside the hacker, "Hardison and I will be as far away from harm as possible."

"I get the data on us; plant the virus and the new data all while Parker plays look out and plants the paper evidence," Hardison listed off angrily, "When we are finished we go to the van. Parker drives and I hold on for dear life."

"We meet you guys at the safe spot three weeks later," Parker nodded along to finish it up, "Can we go now?"

"Yes," Sophie smiled warmly at the two youngest thieves' minds, "Please, be careful you two."

"Says the woman who came up with the plan to con us into doing this," Hardison grumbled in response.

"You, Nate and Eliot have to be careful too," Parker stated simply, "Hardison will be very angry if any of you aren't there!"

"You better believe it," Hardison agreed with a curt nod.

"Be careful," Nate ordered the team in general before turning his attention to the grifter beside him and whispering, "That goes double for you."

"Nate," Sophie huffed as the other three pretended to not notice the conversation going on in front of them, "I'll be fine."

"I just don't want you getting hurt," Nate explained himself truthfully, "I don't want anything bad to happen to you, Sophie."

"Moira," Sophie responded in kind.

"What?" Nate asked in confusion as the rest of the team stared at the grifter in complete shock of what just came out of her mouth.

"Moira," Sophie repeated with purpose clearly on her face, "My name is Moira… Sterling."

"Sterling?" Nate repeated with wide eyes.

"You heard me," Sophie nodded at the mastermind's guess.

"You're his sister?" Nate growled out in shock, "I hate you so much right now."

"I know," Sophie nodded along as Nate's head swooped down to capture her lips in a very meaningful kiss.

"I didn't see that one coming," Parker commented with a smile at the elder two members.

"Yuck," Hardison commented with amusement on his face, "I think they're using tongue."

"Sterling's sister?" Eliot growled out in annoyance at the news, "Sophie is Sterling's sister!"

"You didn't know?" Nate questioned the hitter as he broke apart from the grifter in shock of the newest development.

"I told you I told them my name," Sophie smiled at the mastermind's shock, "I didn't say I told them all of it."

"We didn't know the last name," Parker added on enthusiastically, "It was just cool using her first name."

"Now we can get all of the embarrassing details about little Jim Sterling," Hardison pointed out to the hitter cheerfully, "How cool is that?"

Eliot stared at the hacker in confused thought before a huge smile spread upon his face, "Sweet!"

%

"Okay," Hardison sighed as he began typing on the computer in front of him, "Apparently, my virus just pulled out all of the information we needed. Great!"

"What happened?" Sophie demanded with a hint of humor in her voice.

"Oh nothing special," Hardison griped as he stared at the computer screen as if it were the source of all evil, "I just have to hack through a thoroughly encrypted set of files in order to find out who the giant whale is in this little scenario! Nothing unusual or you know, easy!"

"Quit whining and start hacking," Parker ordered as she stared at the screen over the hacker's shoulder in anticipation.

"Parker, what part of look-out don't you get?" Hardison demanded of the thief in shock that she was right beside him.

"What, I planted cameras!" Parker growled at the hacker as she showed her phone hooked up to a set of cameras located throughout the hallway.

"Okay," Hardison nodded at the thief's answer as he started typing, "I'm sorry I doubted you!"

"Yeah," parker laughed at the hacker's statement, "You doubted me, ha! Okay, if you say so!"

"I'm just going to ignore that," Nate commented through the comms with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Dude, we just watched you have a make out session with our grifter," Hardison griped at the mastermind right on cue, "I have serious trauma from that experience!"

"I kind of liked it," Parker shrugged until the hacker gave her a peculiar look, "What? It's nice to know that they actually do more than fight with each other all the time!"

"Please, make them stop," Eliot begged over the comms with both eyes raised towards the heavens in exasperation.

"Are you ready to make your entrance?" Nate demanded with a smirk audible in his voice.

"We're here, by the way," Sophie giggled into the comms.

The mastermind smiled in anticipation as he carefully pulled a little sports car up towards the mansion entrance. Just as expected, Perkins had a valet at the front ready to park the cars in a more secure location. The valet happily assisted the grifter as he offered his hand for her to take as she enchantingly stepped out of the car. The poor man, who was no older than twenty at the most, almost forgot the rest of his duties as he tried to help the grifter up the stairs. The mastermind cleared his throat in a hostile fashion despite the fact that he was fighting a smile of amusement and managed to capture the valet's attention.

"Don't scratch it and you might get a tip," Nate ordered boldly as he ignored the slight giggles coming from the grifter at the stairs.

"Almost in position," Eliot growled as his charger started making its way up the drive even as he spoke.

"You better hurry," Sophie ordered through a bout of giggles at the mastermind's distraction techniques. "Nate's running out of reasons for the valet to punch him in the face and I'm afraid the poor boy is actually going to do it judging by how red his cheeks are growing."

"… And if I see you staring those peepers," Nate continued with a roll of his eyes towards the grifter while his head was pointing her way. "I will personally…"

"I'm here," Eliot grunted when the charger was parked and ready for the run. "You can stop yelling at the kid now. I see Sophie up ahead and I really don't want to punch anymore innocent people today."

"I think he understands, darling," Sophie smiled serenely as she gently placed herself in between the hitter and the valet's line of sight. "You should probably let him go before he gets into serious trouble."

"Eliot enter now," Nate acknowledged while the grifter was thoroughly distracting the valet. "Sophie and I will enter shortly after."

"Got it, boss," Eliot nodded happily as he quickly stole a suit coat and pulled his hair back.

"Good luck," Nate commented to the hitter as the valet hurriedly took care of the mastermind's sports car with the thought that it was his order.

"I've got the cameras," Hardison smiled sinisterly as he typed away and made certain the hitter was on the virtual guest list. "We are ready to con."

"I love our job," Parker smiled just viciously as she watched the hacker and the rest of her team work.

The hitter calmly walked into the ballroom with watchful eyes. He quickly took count of the number of guards and tried not to smile at the frightened looks each one was displaying. He was in for a good time.

The mastermind and grifter casually walked into the ballroom arm in arm with the appearance of not having a care in the world. Nate made a very obvious look of agitation as he pointed out the hitter with wide eyes. Sophie did her part and pointedly put on a show of discomfort and nervousness at the fact that she was about to be discovered. The pair quickly separated their arms and adopted a look of casual collectedness. They spotted their mark at the other end of the room and started walking towards him.

"Perkins has noticed Eliot," Nate announced as he made a show of slowly making his separate way towards the man. "He sent his dog out on patrol."

"Noted," Eliot nodded at the warning and dodged out of the ballroom to take care of matters ever so slowly.

"The man closest to the door is a trained assassin from Bolivia," Hardison announced during facial check time. "The two chicks on your immediate right are assassins from Monte Carlo. Their files suck!"

"Aww," Parker whined as the lovely sounds of the hitter doing what he does best became obvious to all ears. "They're so lame they didn't even last five seconds."

"New record posted," Hardison agreed when the sounds of battle were officially over.

"That lasted longer than five seconds," Eliot growled into the comms.

"Nope," Nate replied when the grifter made it to the mark and the hitter returned to narrow his eyes at her appearance at the party. "My count is four point fifty-six seconds. Make a point of knocking me in the shoulder as you catch up with the pair, Eliot."

"Okay," Eliot winced internally at the order as he did exactly as told. The mastermind did not fall over as expected.

"Hello, darling," Sophie smiled kindly towards the hitter with just the right touch of sadness to be extremely convincing. "What are you doing here?"

"Business," Eliot remarked in a simple growl, "You?"

"The same," Sophie replied calmly though she did show a hint of regret that really surprised the hitter despite the fact that he was in front of the best actress in the world.

"Mr. Spencer," Perkins acknowledged with only a tiny hint of fear in his falsely steady voice.

"Perkins," Eliot narrowed his eyes towards the man with venom now thoroughly inserted into his voice, "You tried to kill me yesterday."

"What?" Sophie gasped in shock the way they had rehearsed was best.

"Don't act so surprised," Eliot growled at the grifter half-heartedly at best. "I know you're the one that ordered the hit. By the way, tell that brother of mine that there are no hard feelings. I always knew you two were going to end up in bed together. I didn't know it would be literally as well as metaphorically but hey, that's life."

"What do you want?" Sophie demanded before the mark could even think of having a say.

"Call off your dogs," Eliot ordered softly.

"And in exchange?" Sophie questioned just as quietly.

"And I won't kill your boyfriend," Eliot responded with a way too pleased smile at his comment.

"Will you give me my rightful share?" Sophie posed back with thunderous calm.

"I'll even throw in the divorce," Eliot agreed with a quick bounce in his step.

"Swear it on your mother's grave?" Sophie spoke sharply with a slight wince in the eye Perkins could not see for the hitter's benefit.

"You got it," Eliot inclined his head towards the grifter's thoughts as he tried to fight the smile that wanted to form on his lips at her concern.

"I think we're done here, Perkins," Sophie stated after a moment of pure evil glaring. "I don't need you to kill my husband any longer and I will pay you the price we agreed upon with no argument."

"I want a cancelation fee," Perkins retorted with an unhappy smile. "That means ten percent interest, my dear."

"You have it," Sophie nodded simply.

"Good," Eliot chuckled just to make certain there was no room for anymore planning. "I'm going to go get this hot waitress' number since I'm about to be a single man again. Don't follow."

Eliot left in the exact same direction as Perkins' personal guard with the obvious appearance that he was about to go kill something. The grifter and the mark watched after him carefully.

"That ten percent is a bonus if you do it quickly," Sophie explained when the hitter was well out of sight.

"Ten percent of what you inherit seems very fair," Perkins nodded at the order. "You still want him dead after everything you just discussed?"

"It was never a matter of if I wanted him dead," Sophie remarked with a playful smile. "It was only a matter of getting him first."

"I understand," Perkins smiled at the sinister truth. "Can we talk in private?"

"Certainly," Sophie smiled serenely at the mark's request, "Let me just take a moment to inform my date."

"As you wish," Perkins nodded with a quick wink as the grifter disappeared to the mastermind's side.

"What's wrong?" Nate demanded with a quizzical look on his face.

"I need to give you my earbud because the private conversation that Perkins and I are going to have is something you are not going to enjoy," Sophie explained with a sad smile.

"For the record nobody is going to enjoy that conversation so I am all for no comms for you," Hardison announced with a grimace.

"Yuck!" Parker complained at the news, "Can't I Taser him instead?"

"I'm not jealous," Nate commented on autopilot as his grip on the glass of champagne grew alarmingly red.

"That's why I'm giving you my earbud," Sophie commented with a soft smile, "That way you know I'm not interested in anyone else."

"That was sweet," Eliot grumbled at the flirting. "Please don't say that ever again! I don't want the image!"

"Here," Sophie rolled her eyes as she handed over the small device. "You have another job to do."

"Be careful," Nate warned as he tried to explain everything in just one look.

"Always," Sophie promised as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Eliot should be arriving soon anyway! I'll be sure to make lots of noise if anything goes wrong!"

"You better," Nate ordered as he gripped her elbow protectively for a moment before letting her go.

The grifter smiled calmly towards the mastermind before she disappeared within the crowd. A few seconds passed before anybody talked again.

"Sophie is now in the danger zone unprotected," Hardison reported from the computer. "I am almost finished decrypting the files. Parker has us well-protected. Eliot, you are about to meet another round of assassins from… the Ukraine."

"They don't look very friendly," Parker ticked.

"Let me worry about them," Eliot shook his head in disbelief of the thief's words before his face met an unexpected fist. "I thought you said they were Ukrainian!"

"They are," Hardison spat out angrily. "This one's…"

"Albanian and Perkins' personal bodyguard," Eliot grunted as he glared at his opponents. "I got it."

"How…?" Parker demanded in confusion.

"Let me guess," Hardison interrupted casually, "It's a very distinctive punch, right?"

"Actually… You…" Eliot hissed out with pure loathing at the hacker's reply, "Dammit Hardison! I'm coming after you next!"

"Yeah, yeah," Hardison shrugged as he continued to type, "You're going to kick my ass. What else is new? Do you want to start fighting your six… eight opponents now?"

"Ooh," Parker giggled at the hacker's come back, "He's so going to kill you."

"Yeah, but we get to watch the fight on surround sound," Hardison replied with an evil grin. "I'm recording this for later."

"Fine!" Eliot grunted as the fight began with a quick roundhouse to his hind quarters, "But Parker better not eat all of the popcorn again! And I want a month's vacation time for this!"

"I will give you the popcorn," Nate huffed towards the hitter in boredom. "But I'm not giving you a month's vacation time that you won't use. Besides, I'm kidnapping Sophie for the next two weeks. You will all have until we get back to get the needed rest."

"We get to come too, right?" Hardison bargained immediately.

"If you behave," Nate inclined his head slowly. "How are we doing, Eliot?"

"Just peachy!" Eliot grunted out with a two arms and another person's hand wrapped firmly around his throat. There was a person on his back and the guy's partner was in front of him. The others were on the floor trying to wake up enough to get back into the fight.

"I'm going to cut the brakes to Perkins' getaway cars," Nate commented with a quick pop of a grape into his mouth as he left through the side door that the hitter had the guards successfully distracted from.

Meanwhile…

The grifter stared at the vast array of china patterns the mark had on display. Perkins was busy pouring drinks and the silence between them was starting to become unbearable. The grifter smiled as she was handed her drink and waited for the man to start the discussion. He didn't. Instead, he relaxed against his desk and smiled warmly towards her with the obvious intent of stretching out the silence some more. So, she decided to start the conversation instead.

"Why didn't you tell me Dalton Rand was the one who hired you to bring them down?" Sophie posed to the mark with a gentle sneer curving her lips.

"Why didn't you tell me the man you are involved with is Nathan Ford?" Perkins demanded of the grifter with a toast of his glass. "Do the others know of your treachery, Ms. Devereaux?"

"Of course not," Sophie smiled at the man's question, "I'm the best of the best for a reason!"

"And you're playing Mr. Spencer's wife because?" Perkins prompted in amusement of their little dealing.

"It was the only thing that seemed plausible to Nate," Sophie smirked at the man's smile.

"When are we supposed to reveal the hacker?" Perkins questioned as he went to pour himself another glass of victory scotch.

"We're not," Sophie hummed in response. "The job is to get rid of Eliot Spencer and force the team to scatter! At least, that's what I was told!"

"I was told to get rid of one more," Perkins smiled at the grifter's answer.

"I know," Sophie nodded in understanding, "I have everything in order!"

"Then let's get back to that party," Perkins explained as he held out his hand for the grifter to take. "You still have to play the widowed mourner after all!"

"And you still have to play the bait," Sophie agreed with a toothy grin as the two stepped out into the party once again.

"Nathan Ford isn't going to know what hit him," Perkins sighed in content, "until the bullet does!"

"Let the games begin," Sophie promised as she extracted herself from the mark's arm and started to get in position for the next stage of her con.

%

"Well," Hardison grinned merrily when he the computer made a fabulous clicking sound. "The files have been decrypted and copied for me to look at when we get home."

"And Sophie just exited the party room with Perkins in toe," Parker smiled at the news. "Everybody's ready to go."

"Except Eliot but he only has four more guys to knock out," Hardison commented simply.

"And a lot of bruises," Parker observed with an arched brow. "Nate, that's the last car."

"I love it when the con goes smoothly," Hardison stated happily.

"Wait," Nate hollered into the comms as his gut performed an unexpected lurch and forced his mind to think back to when they first got there, "We're missing something."

"No, Nate," Eliot grumbled at the mastermind as he continued to fight off the assassins trying to kill him, "I'm pretty sure they're still trying to kill me."

"No," Nate snapped back as his head raced against the clock, "it's something else."

"What is it?" Parker demanded when the mastermind refused to continue with his theory.

"I'm thinking," Nate sighed as he struggled to find the missing piece of the puzzle, "Hardison, go back to the video footage when we first walked in. Tell me what Perkins does when we enter."

"He just nods his head," Hardison commented in agitation at the fact that he was going over this again, "And then his body guard starts to leave to do his bad thing."

"Okay," Nate nodded at the news, "Look at the time of when he nods and the body-guard goes into action. Play back the video of us entering and tell me who the reaction is to at that exact moment."

"Alright but we already know that it's Eliot," Hardison grumbled as he did exactly what he was told, "And he nods just as… No! No, no, no! No, that can't be right! That is not right!"

"Hardison, who does he nod at?" Nate asked with fear in his tone.

"No," Parker gasped out as she stared at the image over the hacker's shoulder, "It's… Sophie?"

"What?" Eliot screamed out as he finished off two of his attackers right then and there.

"It's Sophie," Hardison repeated as he started grabbing heavy objects and removing his thumb-drive simultaneously, "The target is Sophie!"

"Sophie, get out of there!" Nate ordered as he ran towards the party.

"She can't hear you!" Parker huffed as she ran with the hacker towards the party, "She took her comm out, remember?"

"Dammit!' Nate shouted as he doubled his pace.

"On my way," Eliot growled as he finished off the rest of his attackers without consideration for their lives, "Get her out of there, Nate!"

"We're not going to make it," Hardison groaned as he and the thief sped through the mansion even faster than before.

Nate rushed into the parlor just in time. The grifter made eye contact with him and he conveyed the message loud and clear in time to see the man with the gun. A shot rang out as the man fired upon his mark with perfect accuracy. Sophie fell to the floor in a bloody heap the moment the sound registered to everyone's ears.

"NO!" Nate screamed in horror as his feet raced him towards the grifter instantly, "No!"

"Sophie!" Hardison and Parker yelled in terrified unison just as they witnessed the grifter fall.

The hitter spoke no words. He just found the gunman and sliced him open without hesitation. He rushed to the grifter and the distraught mastermind clinging to her for dear life. Nate sat on the floor cradling Sophie in his arms with his sport-coat held tightly against her chest as he gently rocked her back and forth in a soothing speed.

"Clear the room!" Hardison called out unnecessarily because everybody was vacating the mansion to save their own skins.

"Soph," Nate moaned as he held onto the bleeding brunette crumpled within his arms, "It's going to be alright."

"Nate," Sophie gasped out in urgency.

"Shh," Nate shook his head at the grifter warningly, "You're going to be fine. We made it in time. You're going to be alright, Soph."

"Nate," Sophie whimpered with tears glistening on her cheeks.

"Don't!" Nate interrupted angrily, "We're not doing this! You don't get to say good-bye! We still need you! Don't make this good-bye, Sophie!"

"Sophie," Parker whispered in horrified wonder as she stared at the grifter in confusion, "Don't leave us again."

"You're going to be fine, Soph," Hardison cheered woodenly as his voice cracked at the scene, "Tell her, Eliot!"

"It was a good hit," Eliot explained bitterly as he stared the mastermind directly in the eyes, "She's losing a lot of blood… too much blood."

"What are you saying?" Hardison demanded harshly, "What are you saying, man?"

"She's dying?" Parker stated simply though no one could tell if it was meant to come out as a question.

"Nate," Sophie repeated in a hoarse whisper.

"We take risks all the time," Nate ordered sternly, "remember Soph? We always make it through. You'll be fine."

The grifter just stared at the mastermind in defeat. Her brown eyes were filled with sympathy, dread, and sorrow. They then started to black out the field of blue in their vision as their lids continued to grow heavy and tired. Brown eyes were slowly disappearing behind painted lids.

"Don't close your eyes!" Eliot rasped in an unfamiliar voice.

"I love you," Nate admitted to the grifter desperately seeking a way to cheat her into staying alive, "I don't care who you think you are; I love you, Sophie Devereaux!"

Sophie's eyes flew open in shock and awe of the statement. She stared at the man who made it with a moment of pure bliss and curiosity on her face. Her brown eyes were filled to the brim with tears at the news.

"See," Nate pointed out happily at how alive she appeared to be in that moment, "Now you have to live. I admitted it and you have to see if I'm not just conning you into staying. You have to stay! It's a whole new game now, Soph!"

"Nate," Sophie cried at the man's desperation as her eyes fluttered slowly closed of their own accord despite everything, "I… I had to!"

"Don't," Nate pleaded as he watched the grifter's eyes close again, "Don't close your eyes! I need you! Sophie, please! Dammit Moira, don't close your eyes!"

"You said… my name," Sophie believed she muttered out before she was finally lost to the world around her and consumed by black oblivion.

*Suspense!*

**A/N:** _Weren't expecting that one, huh? Review and let me know if you suspected or if you thought it was this person but that it could have been the next! Hallucinations are fun! That is your last and final hint! Up next, Harker! Pardison? I like Harker, so I'm going with Harker… moment! Did I really just make Sophie Sterling's sister? Hey, takes sibling rivalry to a whole new level, right? By the by: Dalton Rand hired Sophie to go after the team because he had no idea she was working with them. She took the deal to guarantee their safety. Hey, look at that! Two hints in one! Smiles and review!_


	9. The Insufferable Waiting

**A/N:**_ Oh, look! You guys get two chapters for good behavior and a long wait. I will be posting the rest of this story throughout the week unless I get bored and decide to post all of it tomorrow. Most of your questions will be answered in the rest of the story so have fun and review for any reason you feel necessary._

Parker stared at the hospital wall intently. She couldn't figure it out. It just didn't make any sense that she was in this situation. What was worse was the hole she felt. It was painful, wrenching, and disarmingly horrid all at the same time. Her eyes were stinging and leaking from the way those feelings were making her feel. She hated it. She hated all of it, not just the waiting. It was the not knowing that was really bothering her. She actually had no idea if her best friend was going to survive or not and it scared her beyond belief. Fear: that was a new emotion for the young thief. She had never actually been afraid of something before, and now she was. Archie would be disappointed in that. He always said that fear was irrelevant compared to survival. He also said that working with others was never a good thing and he was wrong about that. The young thief sniffled softly as she allowed the tears to flow freely for once. She wanted to feel this sadness. She didn't want to forget it. She needed to feel the pain and the tears. Of course, she was so absorbed in her own unique form of torture that she didn't even notice the hacker calmly sitting himself down beside her.

"You okay?" Hardison asked in a sympathetic tone.

"What do you think?" Parker demanded back bitterly.

"It's a formality, Parker," Hardison commented shyly, "I know you're not okay."

"Then why did you ask?" Parker questioned back right on cue.

"Because I want to talk about it and that was the only way I could think of starting the conversation," Hardison retorted.

"We were all there," Parker stated numbly, "We all saw what happened. Why do we need to discuss it?"

"Because it helps with the situation," Hardison smiled back as innocently as possible.

"Does it really?" Parker asked with hope brimming her teary eyes at the prospect.

"Sometimes," Hardison admitted softly, "At least, Sophie says it helps to talk about things. She also says it's not healthy to bottle things up so..."

"Is that why Nate's so… Nate?" Parker gasped out in a sudden need for understanding.

"I don't know," Hardison laughed hollowly at the thief's wise question, "Maybe. Sophie's the one who knows Nate. I have no idea what goes on in that man's mind."

"She's going to die," Parker stated matter-of-factly all of a sudden, "Isn't she?"

"No!" Hardison denied the thief's worried claim automatically as his body gave a quick spasm of fear at the tiny idea of it, "Of course not! It's Sophie! She would never leave us, Mama!"

"She did once before," Parker sighed out in a soft whisper.

"No, she didn't," Hardison growled at the thief affectionately, "She didn't leave us then, Parker. She had to take a break from being Sophie so she could be a better grifter for our team… and a better friend for our family! She would never leave us, Parker!"

"What if she does?" Parker demanded harshly at the hacker's words, "What if she can't help it? What will happen then? What happens to our team, Hardison? We can't lose Sophie! Nate can't lose Sophie! He won't survive! And Eliot will blame himself because the mark used him to bait her! He'll probably run away to make sure that will never happen again! What about you, Hardison? What will you do when Sophie dies?"

"Sophie is not going to die, Parker!" Hardison grunted at the thief with a certain snarl, "The doctors are going to make certain she won't die! Don't you even think that!"

"I'm sorry," Parker whimpered at the hacker in defeat, "I'm just…"

"Scared," Hardison nodded with the thief's assessment, "I am too, but we aren't going to lose her, Parker! I just know it."

"How do you know?" Parker interrogated with hopeful interest.

"Because I know Sophie," Hardison replied back with a genuine smile, "And you do too."

"Yeah," Parker smiled at the news, "Sophie is too stubborn to die by a bullet."

"Besides," Hardison added on to diffuse some of the impossible tension in the room, "She finally conned Nate into admitting he loved her. She's got to stick around for the gloat!"

"And to prevent Eliot from killing Nate," Parker agreed thoroughly eased by the hacker's wise words of wisdom.

"Only because he has to protect us," Hardison smiled at the thief's thinking.

"Hardison," Parker calmly stated as she tried to keep her mind from thinking such awful things, "Are you scared?"

"Terrified," Hardison admitted as he pulled the thief into a hug, "I'm terrified, Mama."

"Then it's a good thing it's Sophie," Parker concluded as the tears continued to fall, "because Eliot's going to be really mad when she wakes up."

"Speaking of Eliot," Hardison pointed out as the hitter made his way towards them, "Where have you been, man?"

"We have a problem," Eliot stated in a very low growl.

"No, really?" Hardison sarcastically replied with a scowl growing on his face at the hitter's choice of words, "I thought we were just having a little family get-together! We're in a hospital, man!"

"It's Nate," Eliot hissed at the hacker in irritation, "He's seeing Sophie."

"He's been watching the doctors operate on her for the last couple of hours until they kicked him out," Parker pointed out simply, "Maybe that's why."

"He's talking to her, Parker," Eliot explained with a roll of his eyes, "And before either of you ask, she seems to be talking back."

"Uh-oh," Parker gasped out as that fear in her stomach started to curl up further at the news.

"That actually makes sense," Hardison replied with a tiny hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Now let's go before he gets himself killed," Eliot ordered as he pulled the two out of their seats, "or sent to the loony bin!"

%

"Nate?" Parker asked quietly when they finally made it outside.

"Yes, Parker," Nate commented dryly as he stared at a specific spot with glaring eyes, "I still see her and I know I'm not supposed to."

"Maybe she's a ghost," Parker began to explain for the very distraught mastermind before her, "Maybe that's her way of telling us everything's going to be okay. It makes sense that she would only haunt you, Nate."

"No Parker," Nate sighed at the thief's hopeful guess, "She's not a ghost."

"How long?" Hardison demanded in that shaky voice of his that everybody always hated.

"Since they took her away from me," Nate explained sourly, "I started seeing her after the doctors took her away for operation."

"And you didn't tell us," Eliot nodded along with disappointment apparent on his face.

"I was hoping to get away with it," Nate kindly commented back as he continued to stare at that strange spot with wonder.

"What happens if Sophie dies?" Parker demanded out of quiet desperation of the mastermind before her.

"Nothing good," Nate stated slowly as he chanced a look away from the tiny spot to look at the fearful thief with actual care in his eyes, "Because I'm cracking at the seams."

"No, you're not," Parker argued cunningly, "because you admit you're going crazy and crazy people don't believe they're crazy!"

"Is she telling you to do anything?" Hardison asked mainly out of his own curiosity on the touchy subject.

"She just wants me to keep going over the con to see where we went wrong," Nate shrugged in response, "I've been doing that for the last hour. I still can't figure out why they went after her."

"Yes, you can," Eliot growled at the mastermind's pitiful excuse, "You know exactly why they chose her!"

"Why?" Parker asked rashly, "Why Sophie?"

"Why not any of the rest of us?" Hardison fueled for the thief in hopes of getting an answer.

"It's the easiest way to take me down," Nate explained slowly as he glared at the hitter, "but that's not why she was shot."

"What do you mean?" Eliot questioned in shock, "Why was she shot?"

The flashbacks started piling up in the mastermind's mind at the hitter's questioning words. He saw the bullet shooting off. He saw the man pulling the trigger. He saw the nod from Hardison's video cameras. He saw the man pull out the gun and aim. He saw the quick look Sophie flashed the man before she started to move. He saw who the gun had been pointed at all along.

"Me," Nate realized with an agonizing breath, "They were never after Sophie. They were after me. She just got in the way."

"How would you bring our team down?" Parker gasped out in realization.

"The same way you would take out any army," Hardison cringed at the news.

"You take out the leader," Eliot nodded at his teammates with sadness, "I was the distraction, but not for Sophie."

"She jumped in the way for me," Nate cried out in agony, "That's why I see her. She made certain they would never get their target."

"That's not everything," Fake Sophie commented with a pleased smile, "Aren't you going to inform them about the rest of her plan? They deserve to know the truth."

"She loves you," Parker concluded for the mastermind surprisingly.

"What?" Hardison demanded of the thief in shock of what she was saying.

"That's why she jumped in front of the bullet," Parker explained excitedly, "Sophie loves Nate."

"Parker…" Eliot began to interject.

"You're right, Parker," Nate smiled at the thief's thinking, "You're absolutely right."

"And that's why you see her," Parker continued in awe of everything she was saying, "Because you love her too."

"Yes," Nate nodded at the thief's assessment, "I love her too. Dammit!"

"And that's why she's going to make it!" Parker stated firmly.

"Mr. Baker?" a nurse cried out as she stepped outside to find the four thieves all congregated together, "Are you Mr. Tom Baker?"

"Yes," Nate stated with fear easily oozing into his voice at the frowning face the nurse was wearing, "What happened to my wife? How is she?"

"Why don't you come inside so the doctor can explain it to you," the nurse suggested with sympathy shining throughout her eyes.

The four thieves shared a look of concern before they started to follow the nurse inside. The hitter gently monitored the mastermind as he stepped up beside him. The thief and hacker followed closely behind. Everybody held their breath. They were slowly marching towards a place that looked like it would be the grifter's room. There was absolutely nothing good about the complete lack of people in the hallways all of a sudden.

"I don't like this," Parker growled at the hacker in misery, "I don't like the way that nurse is looking at Nate at all!"

"Ditto," Hardison agreed with a nervous swallow of his throat, "but it's Sophie. Sophie's invincible, right Mama?"

"Like Eliot," Parker nodded her head in understanding of what the hacker was doing.

"Don't get your hopes up," Eliot begged of the two young thieves with concern, "Look at the way she's walking. She's walking as if she has a very heavy load on her shoulders."

"Plus the way she keeps darting looks at Nate shows she's worried about his reaction to the news," Hardison added on as he remembered his training from the grifter they were worried about.

"Sophie says that people walk with confidence when they're happy," Parker listed off delicately, "and she's not which means she isn't happy. She's sad and a little disappointed because she's walking with big, jagged steps. It's like she's stumbling but not quite because she has to still be professional in front of us. She's walking like she just lost a patient… Oh!"

"Not now, Parker," Nate ordered with a quick look at the young thief's face before he whipped his head towards the doctor that was heavily approaching them.

"His shoulders are sagging," Hardison whispered to the young thief for a distraction.

"Which means bad things," Parker agreed sadly.

"Mr. Baker," the doctor asked kindly when he finally reached Nate, "Tom Baker, right?"

"How is she?" Nate demanded desperately though it was obvious from his stance that he had intended on being professional.

"Are they with you?" the doctor pointed to the three thieves behind him in hopes of buying himself a few more moments before breaking the news, not a good sign.

"The blonde and the tall one are our kids," Nate explained hurriedly as his professionalism was remembered for the moment because he noticed the way the doctor was acting too, "the long-haired brunette is my brother. What happened to So… my wife?"

"She survived surgery," the doctor delivered the news with a pained expression on his face, "but she lost a lot of blood in the process. Her vitals were pretty close to shot when we got to her and we had to resuscitate her a few times during the whole process."

"What are you saying?" Parker gasped out in hopes of understanding what was going on.

"How bad is it?" Nate finished off because he knew exactly where the doctor was going with this one and it scared him far more than he was even ready to think on.

"Mr. Baker, your wife is currently in a coma," the doctor reported slowly, "it's a small one but there is no likelihood of her waking up. Blood loss causes brain damage when there isn't enough oxygen running to the brain. Your wife may not wake up ever again. I'm so sorry, Mr. Baker, but we did everything we could to save her life."

"She's not dead though," Parker growled at the doctor in anger, "You're talking about her as if she's dead. She's not! It's Sophie! She'll wake up."

"She's a little stressed out now," Hardison apologized for the thief as he put an arm protectively around her shoulders, "She's having a hard time with the news that we might never see our… mom wake up again!"

"Can we see her before we have to make any decisions?" Nate asked with that broken voice of his back to stay.

"Of course," the doctor agreed with sympathy, "It's only right. I'll take you to her room myself."

The thieves followed the doctor into the hospital wing without speaking. It was a silent march to the grifter's door as each thief thought about the words the doctor had just said to them. They walked into the grifter's room in disbelief as everybody's gaze fell on the beautiful brunette lying there. Sophie laid there with tubes sticking out of her nose and mouth as her breathing was monitored by some machine off to the side. She looked pale.

"Can we have a few minutes alone?" Nate asked the doctor awkwardly as his eyes were glued to the grifter in the bed.

"Of course," the doctor nodded at the man's assessment as he hurried the nurse away, "I'll be back in an hour to discuss options."

"I don't get it, Hardison," Parker admitted to the hacker softly as she pulled him to the side for information, "Sophie's alive. Why are they so upset?"

"Because now we have to consider letting Sophie go so she won't suffer," Hardison told the thief the truth because he wasn't Sophie and he didn't have the heart to lie for her own protection.

"Nate can't do that!" Parker gasped out in horror, "It would kill him!"

"That's why I'm here," Eliot explained as he hugged the thief and hacker before going towards the mastermind to start discussing options, "Why don't you two wait outside for a bit?"

"Sophie's supposed to say that," Parker growled back in response.

"Come on, Mama," Hardison sighed as he pulled the thief out of the scary room with their favorite grifter, "Let's go get something to drink. I'm thirsty."

"Let's get ice for Sophie too," Parker agreed with a smile, "then we can go to the cafeteria and steal some tea because we all know how much blood loss makes you thirsty."

"Yeah," the hacker coughed out in disbelief, "Let's do that."

"She's in denial," the hitter sighed when the hacker and thief finally disappeared.

"Yep," Nate agreed as he picked up the grifter's hand and held on tight, "I was afraid that would happen. Did you see Hardison's reaction?"

"He thinks you should pull the plug," Eliot nodded at the mastermind's words, "She's hooked up to a breathing machine! I can understand why he wants you to do it."

"I can't," Nate stumbled at the abrupt approach of their important conversation, "You know I can't! I can't kill her!"

"Then she's going to suffer," Eliot hissed at the selfish mastermind beside him, "and we both know how much you want her to do that."

"Hardison can pull the plug," Nate concluded slowly, "We've trained him enough to do it."

"He won't be able to sign the papers," Eliot sighed at the news, "and Parker would never forgive him. You can't do that to him."

"You can pull the plug," Nate growled at the hitter in irritation as he started moving wisps of the grifter's hair out of her face, "If you're so bent on having it done."

"You're a selfish bastard," Eliot coughed out in amazement, "If you really loved her, you'd do it yourself!"

"You don't want me to," Nate concluded with a satisfied smile that was way too predatory, "Do you, Eliot?"

"It's Sophie!' Eliot growled out in annoyance, "It's supposed to be me you're discussing, not her! I don't want her to suffer!"

"But you don't want me to pull the plug," Nate hissed at the hitter's cowardice, "But I'm the coward because I'm talking about it."

"She'll never talk back," Eliot explained with sympathy for the mastermind thick within his voice, "Just because she's alive doesn't mean you have her!"

"Of course not," Nate quipped back bitterly as his grip on the grifter's hand tightened possessively, "That's what my hallucination is for."

"You know what she would want," Eliot placed a comforting hand on the mastermind's shoulder as he carefully spoke his next piece of advice. "You're the only one who can decide what to do."

"I'll give her a few days," Nate explained sadly, "and then I'll decide if I can pull the plug or not."

"I understand," Eliot nodded at the simple statement, "I'll tell the doctor you want three days."

"What?" Parker gasped out as a bucket of ice slowly dropped to the floor, "you're going to do it? I trusted you!"

"Parker!" Hardison called after the blonde blur that barreled past with no stopping in her future, "Parker, come back!"

"Let her go," Eliot ordered the younger man when it looked like he was ready to go.

"You're going to do it then?" Hardison asked sheepishly as he continued to watch the spot where the thief had disappeared.

"We're giving her three days before we make a decision," Eliot explained with a sad smile.

"You mean before he makes a decision," Hardison retorted angrily, "You heard what the doctor said, man. You can't let her suffer."

"Three days, Hardison," Nate stated defiantly as he kept his gaze on the grifter in question, "She has three days to prove to me that she's going to be okay or I will murder her!"

"It's not murder when it's mercy," Hardison pointed out in a growl, "I'm getting out of here! I need some air!"

"You're sure about this?" Eliot demanded of the mastermind with concern.

"Watch them," Nate ordered in a temper, "I'll let you know if she's going to die when her three days are up! I owe her!"

"Three days," Eliot agreed sternly, "Don't beat yourself up too much over it."

"Leave us alone," Nate complained expectedly at the hitter's insistence to be there with him.

"You got it," Eliot agreed as he left the mastermind to stew in his thoughts while he went to take care of more important business matters.

"What do I do?" Nate demanded of his hallucination with anger.

"I like your plan," the hallucination of Sophie smiled at him with amusement, "It gives her three days to be okay and it gives you time to work up the courage to say you're not going to kill her! It's brilliant really!"

"Stop using her voice," Nate begged in pain of the news, "Stop looking like her! Look like someone I can hate instead!"

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" fake Sophie asked with anger on her face, "No, you won't listen if I'm Sterling. You won't do anything but shout and draw attention if I'm Blackpoole! I can do Maggie if you like but you won't respond as well as you do when I'm Sophie."

"Why won't you just go away?" Nate pleaded with the specter in a complete rage now, "Why won't you leave me alone?"

"Because I'm you and you're a persistent little wanker when you need to be," fake Sophie smiled casually at the banter, "Would you like it if I pouted my lips and flirted like she does?"

"I want you to go away," Nate barked back in anger as he turned his gaze back on the sleeping grifter in the bed, "and I want you to wake up."

"She can't hear you," fake Sophie snapped at the man in irritation, "She's in a coma. Her brain can barely even pick up its own functions and thoughts let alone your voice!"

"Shut up!" Nate ordered with a growl at the hallucination's evilness.

"Remember," fake Sophie chanted with renewed vigor, "I'm how you perceive Sophie. You seem to be under the impression that she is someone who is annoying and is out to make your life a living Hell. It's not my fault you think of her this way."

"Considering I'm in love with her," Nate snapped back viciously, "There is obviously a lot more I visualize her as than just a beautiful woman with nothing but annoying anger in her soul."

"You're confused," fake Sophie mused with a sneer, "because this is how you really see her. I'm your mind, remember. I only do what you tell me to."

"Then go away and leave us alone," Nate begged of the hallucination with hope in his eyes.

"You are alone," fake Sophie quipped back with a laugh, "She's not there anymore than I am here! You're going bonkers, you know."

"Come on, Soph," Nate turned his attention back on the grifter in the bed, "I know you. You have to wake up!"


	10. Your Mind or Reality

**A/N:**_ I lied… you get three! I cheated! Warning: Changing P.O.V._

A loud noise from behind you is sudden and unplanned. Blue eyes filled with terror send you a warning that you already know about. You hear a crack of a gun. You feel pain and then a thud causing even more pain to fill your beaten body. Black shoes race into focus before lights start to dance before your eyes. The blue eyes peer down at you with panic. Gentle hands are roughly pressing on the red area that stabs and causes too many white flashes. Your lips are moving but you can't hear anything except the wretched gunshot's echo. The blue eyes show an emotion there are no words for and your ears finally begin to work:

"I love you" then black, rinse and repeat.

%

"Did you know that Dalton Rand hired her to take us down?" Hardison questioned the mastermind from the doorway.

"Dalton Rand?" Nate asked of the hacker in interest, "I didn't realize it was Dalton Rand, no! I thought it was someone else!"

"But you knew she had been hired to take us down?" Hardison gasped at the new information.

"I kind of figured it out at the beginning of my nervous breakdown," Nate explained casually as he stared at a specific spot in the room, "We both know why she agreed to do it."

"Still seeing her?" Hardison demanded as he carefully started to step into the room.

"Never stopped," Nate answered as he stared at the beautiful hallucination in genuine interest.

Both men stood in silence as they absorbed the odd meaning behind the truthful words. They listened to the uncomfortable sounds of machines keeping their grifter alive. The hacker didn't want to talk and the mastermind wasn't really in the mood to listen. They just stayed together in silence because it was easier than acknowledging anything else.

"It's not fair," Hardison commented as his focus was ungratefully taken by the woman lying in the hospital bed.

"Life isn't fair," Nate huffed back in calm agreement as he continued to stare at the same corner of the room in greedy wonder.

"No," Hardison growled as he stared at the same spot as the mastermind, "It's not fair that you get to hallucinate her while the rest of us have to deal with reality!"

"Are you actually jealous of the fact that I'm going crazy?" Nate inquired as he titled his head to observe the seriousness of the hacker's statement.

"In your world she isn't helpless," Hardison shrugged in response as he pulled up a chair and grabbed the grifter's hand in interest, "You get to talk to her!"

"You can talk to her," Nate shot back with a roll of his eyes.

"But she talks back to you," Hardison pointed out slowly, "We don't get that! We just get this!"

The hacker waved at the machines in despair and then dropped his hands in defeat.

"I'd rather just have this," Nate sighed at the hacker's statement before he turned his attention on the unconscious grifter's face, "She's real! The other Sophie is just my version of her! I prefer the real Sophie Devereaux!"

"But you only have me," fake Sophie replied with a knowing smirk as she turned her gaze on the hacker in interest of his next reply. "Ain't that a shame?"

"She's not going to get better," Hardison realized as he stared at the grifter in shock, "is she?"

"One more day," Nate stated defiantly, "She's still got one more day to change our minds!"

"Are you going to do it?" Hardison demanded sadly, "Are you going to pull the plug?"

"You know it's the only way to free her," fake Sophie explained casually, "It's the only way to get rid of me too!"

"Yeah," Nate breathed out in a single treacherous gasp, "I know."

"One day," Hardison agreed with a sneer in the direction of the hallucination, "so you better wake up because I do not want to watch you die! You hear me, Soph?"

"I'm dying, Hardison," fake Sophie commented with misery on her beautiful representation of a face, "It's already too late!"

"She heard you," Nate spoke sharply towards the hallucination to make certain he was heard.

%

Pain. Nothing but pure pain. The world was spinning and everything was pain. Odd lights danced in and out of focus every time a single word was breathed out into the world. White and black seemed to be the only colors in existence. Time was irrelevant compared to the roaring pain and the thumping sounds coming from everywhere. Something was wrong. The thumping tones were pitched far too low. The squeaks had stopped and the scratching only arrived every so often. The drumming was still there, in the distance. The drumming and the thumping were all that was left. Occasionally, the feeling of a hand was enough to mask the pain of that cold fact. Sometimes, oblivion was slipping away into the rough truth of reality.

**A/N II:** _A mind is a terrible thing and who knows what goes on when somebody is in a coma. It's a writer's dream to theorize about that. So, what did you think?_


	11. Pull the Plug: Yea or Nea

**A/N:**_ Okay, so apparently a day until the end of the week actually means a week. Hmm! So, I shall give you the last two chapters. Enjoy._

Black. White. Black. The pattern continued briskly throughout the wretched path of life. Black. White. Black. The world solely consisted of black, white, black. It was nothing more than a tiny tunnel with changing scenery that refused to pick a specific time frame or method. Just black, white, black. The white was filled with nothing but unbearable pain, while the black held nothing but peace. Yet, the white somehow seemed to be the right choice while the black was wrong. There was something in the white that was important. There was something about the white that continued to draw her near. There was something important in the white that could only be answered in the black. He doesn't know.

%

"No!" Parker stated simply with her arms crossed in defiance of what the hacker was even daring to suggest.

Eliot sighed at the news. He knew the thief was going to take this hard. He knew the moment he woke up that Parker would have the roughest time accepting this decision. She had been very adamant from the very beginning that they would not suffer this loss. The hitter remembered the first night after the announcement and how he stumbled across Parker trying to steal the grifter away from harm. Thankfully everything was bolted down or the situation would have gotten so much worse. The second night, the thief came prepared with her own equipment and murder in her eyes should anyone even think about stopping her. Oddly enough, the hacker wasn't even able to penetrate her delusions of successfully stealing the grifter away. No, it wasn't until the mastermind ordered her to stop that the thief listened. It was the only sign they were allowed to have that showed just how desperate their thief was to be listening to the only member of the team currently crazier than her. This was bad.

"What's wrong?" Eliot demanded in the softest voice he could muster at their current situation.

"Hardison wants to kill Sophie," Parker pointed to the hacker with betrayal and grief dominating her features. "He told Nate to pull the plug."

"The doctors told us she was getting worse," Hardison reported to the hitter with a numb look about his entire demeanor.

"How did Nate take it?" Eliot questioned with a long breath to make certain his emotions were under control. It was his job to be the emotional bearer for the team now.

"He politely told the doctor to go while he thought things over," Hardison responded in an even voice that only sounded a little broken. "He then locked the door and pretty much had a screaming match with Soph's… with the hallucination." The hacker began to stare blankly at the floor when the grifter's name slipped past his lips. Proof that he was struggling with this situation just as badly as the thief.

"Then he had me pick the lock so he could tell Nate to kill Sophie!" Parker sneered in disgust of the hacker's decision. Another bad sign.

"How long until the doctor comes back?" Eliot asked with just the tiniest of cracks within it. His voice decided to betray him now of all times.

"Minutes, man," Hardison swallowed out as he finally brought his head up to face his friends. His eyes were leaking.

"Then we should go in and give our support," Eliot declared. He was the rock in this current situation and was not going to screw it up.

"We're not killing Sophie!" Parker screamed out at the top of her lungs.

"She's suffering, Parker!" Hardison snapped at the thief with both arms raised in frustration, "We have to let her go! It's not fair to her!"

"I don't want to let her go!" Parker huffed out in annoyance, "And Nate can't let her go so we aren't going to kill Sophie!"

"It's not killing her!" Eliot explained to the thief in exasperation, "She's practically dead already. The only thing we'll be doing is letting her move on!"

"We're not killing her!" Parker bit back with a snarl, "Nate, tell them we're not killing her!"

"I can't, Parker," Nate sighed as he continued to sit beside the grifter and refuse to move away.

"Please, Nate," Parker cried out in agony, "Don't let them do this! We need her! You need her! Don't take her away from me!"

"She's hurting, Parker," Nate stated sadly as his hand kept a possessive position around the grifter's cold one, "I don't like it when she's hurt."

"Then tell her to wake up!" Parker begged out of desperation at the news she was hearing, "Tell her it's time to wake up and let us all know she's okay! Sophie, wake up! Wake up right now, Sophie!"

"She can't hear you, Parker," Eliot growled out in frustration of the situation and the heavy burden it was bringing along with it.

"Wake up, Sophie!" Parker screamed at the grifter with tears streaming down her face in fear of what was about to happen, "You have to wake up now! We need you!"

"She's not waking up, Parker," Hardison reported with tears tracking their way on down his cheeks as well, "She's too far gone!"

"But it's Sophie," Parker huffed out as she stared at the hacker in disbelief.

"Sophie would come back to us if she could, Parker," Hardison sighed at the thief's distraught behavior, "She would want us to do this."

"You said she'd stay for us!" Parker barked at the hacker in scorn, "You promised!"

"I thought she would, Parker," Hardison cried out in bitterness, "I really thought she would."

"We have to let her go, Parker," Eliot stressed out with redness infecting his eyes as well now, "You have to let her go!"

"I don't want her to go!" Parker stated with tears continuing to flow right on down, "I still need her! She can't go!"

"She doesn't have a choice, Parker," Eliot explained sadly, "We have to do this! She would want us to do this for her!"

"but we didn't get enough time," Parker tried to counter his argument.

"Time was something we weren't allowed to have," Hardison sighed at the news, "But she's not leaving us, Parker!"

"We're letting her go," Parker whispered as understanding finally dawned into her little head.

"Eliot," Nate gasped out as he turned his attention away from the grifter to talk with his team, "What should we do?"

"Pull the plug," Eliot gushed out in one foul breath.

"Pull the plug, Nate," Hardison pleaded as he stared at the grifter with sympathy and regret.

"Parker?" Nate demanded of the thief with hunger blossoming in his eyes, "What do you want?"

"I want Sophie," Parker began in a whimpering huff, "to move on. We have to pull the plug, Nate. It's time for us to let her go."

The mastermind turned his gaze hopefully towards his only remaining ally. The fake grifter returned his gaze with tears shimmering down her beautifully artificial cheeks. Sophie just stared at him in misery and he knew. Before she even spoke, he knew.

"Please," his version of Sophie whimpered out. "Pull the plug and let me go."

Nate stared at his imagination in disdain. It was the truth that he had been afraid to face. It was the decision he had never wanted to make. It was his deepest wish for her to never suffer bubbling to the surface. It was the choice he would always make, the rightful one.

"Okay," Nate swallowed back the tears at the news, "Pull the plug."

"It's the right decision," the doctor explained with a sad smile directed at the mastermind as he slowly bent down to remove the offending plug that was currently keeping their grifter alive.

"Good-bye Sophie," Eliot grunted out as he turned around and left the room with the obvious intent to hit something in his every stride.

"Bye Soph," Hardison gasped out at the grifter's slowing heart monitor, "It was a pleasure knowing you."

"I'll miss you," Parker cried out as her trembling lip forced her to grab the hacker's hand and pull him away from the depressing scene of their grifter's death.

The fake grifter just smiled weakly at what she was being given, and disappeared.

"See you soon, Soph," Nate reported back with a soft kiss to his grifter's head as he kept to her side and listened to the steady beats of her depleting heart-rate.

"I'll just leave you alone," the doctor suggested as he pulled the one remaining nurse out of the room with him.

Nate closed his eyes and listened to the way the heart monitor continued to count down the endless eternity of seconds remaining of his grifter's life. He watched the reel of his son's death behind those closed lids in true despair. The divorce with Maggie started playing in the back of his mind in harmony with the way the machines continued to make their horrifying sounds. He witnessed the gunman shooting his Sophie to the ground and his heart stopped in distress at the way she fell to the floor so quickly. He felt Sophie's blood slipping through his fingers as he tried to futilely keep her blood within her beautiful body. He listened to the heart monitor and cringed at the way it seemed to torture him with its continuously awful noises.

"Nate," a fragile voice cracked unsteadily at the word forming around her tongue through the haze of awful memories and desperate grief clouding the mastermind's thoughts.

Nate's eyes flew open at the sweet sound. He stared at the heart monitor in complete shock as he noted the speed with which it was so successfully beating. He blissfully turned his head towards the source of the minute noise. Brown eyes stared right back up into his cerulean blues with groggy concern and incomprehension filling them to the brim and beyond.

"Sophie," Nate hissed back as tears of joy started to prickle his eyes, "Hi!"

"Hi," Sophie smiled back at him with drowsy happiness covering her beautifully alive face.

"How are you feeling?" Nate demanded as his concern for her seemed to fill him completely.

The grifter just continued to smile at him before she finally whispered, "I love you too."

**A/N II:** _Apparently, hallucination Sophie wasn't up to really playing after the first half. I wonder why. Holy crap, was she even a hallucination? Weird._


	12. Epilogue: Revenge

**A/N:**_ The original version of this epilogue was written at five (more likely three) o'clock in the morning (because puppy likes to go potty that early) while I was at my house during my school break, because I am a light-sleeping insomniac who writes. Therefore, this is not that version because I was tired and refused to allow my need to write to overrule that particular need. So, forgive me if this isn't up to par but the original version was a lot scarier but I couldn't remember all of the perfect little details. Enjoy._

Epilogue:

Dalton Rand walked towards the monitor in complete wonder. He stared in surprise at the resultant dark work of his enemy. His plan had succeeded with only one small price. The team of thieves thought the man currently in the insane asylum was responsible for their grifter's fate. The fools thought this poor excuse of a man was almost their downfall. The con artist smirked in satisfaction. He was free to extract his revenge again.

Perkins was sitting in the white room with his tongue lagging. He twisted his head to and fro a couple of times, but he did no more than that. Rand watched in amusement. Ford saved him the trouble of exposing his accomplice and routed out the chink in his chain at the same time.

"I should have known she was their grifter," Dalton Rand admitted softly to the contained prisoner. "And because of you, I do. Now I know how to really take them down."

Rand smiled to himself as his goon continued to stare at him blankly. He won. A guard from somewhere nearby stood beside him and joined him at staring at the pathetic sack. The con turned his head to speak and felt his stomach drop at the guard's true identity. Eliot Spencer smiled back at him with venom and death in his eyes. Dalton turned towards the other direction in hopes of escape. Nathan Ford towered over him with nothing but vengeance on his mind.

Perkins smiled blissfully. He was only semi-aware of the world around him at that very moment. He knew enough to know that the blood splatters on his clothes did not belong to him. He knew enough to realize that he was not the source of the screams he heard. He knew enough to stay silent. Vengeance was due.

**A/N II:** _I would like to thank you all for reading this and bearing with me for the spotty postings. I know how evil it is to read demands for reviews because that's just mean and cruel. However, I am going to ask that you tell me your thoughts whenever you feel up to it though. How do you like my process? What could I improve on and what I should never let go of? That kind of stuff, please. Thanks again! Zee-zee._


End file.
